The Flaming Key
by Syberella
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia lives a double life that secretly connects her with shady activity in Magnolia. What will happen when she meets Natsu and he tries to unravel her mysterious past and troubles? Once the tower of lies constructed by those around her starts to crumble, she will realize who is on her side and who is out to destroy her.
1. A Daily Dose Of Dough

_Hello person who is reading this! I'm Syberella but you can call me Ella. I've always been one that was fascinated by writing and reading other people's works but I've finally decided to start publicly writing some of my work to get feedback (if possible). Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this story. This is the first story fanfic (not one-shot) that I have ever written so please be kind D:_

 _Fandom_ _: Fairy Tail_

 _Characters_ _: Pretty much most of the FT characters but mainly Lucy, Natsu, Romeo and Wendy._

 _Rating_ _: Teen_

 _Warning_ _: Swearing, Nalu feels (xD), Oh and in this AU Lucy is going to be... different BUT worry not my fellow Nalu shippers. It will be okay._

 _Disclaimer_ _: These characters do NOT belong to me. They belong to trollshima. (aka Hiro)_

* * *

 **Summary:**

Lucy Heartfilia is a 17 year old girl who loved to collect keys, write books and longed for an adventure. Lucy lived her whole live working various rigorous jobs and took up the challenge of raising two young children she has known her whole life. Being an independent, hard-willed girl who never trusted anybody she talked to , she become known in Magnolia as the Gated Spirit. What will happen when Lucy accidentally finds the one person who will unravel her once mysterious past and troubles? Once the tower of lies constructed by those around her starts to crumble, she will finally realize who is really on her side and who is out to destroy her. The sinister plots of those who will betray her will start to unfold and the only person who could possibly save her is a certain pink-haired teen whom she feels conflicted about.. Could he possibly be the key to opening her sealed away heart and secrets? Could he be the flame she's been longing for?

* * *

 **Chapter 1: A Daily Dose of Dough**

* * *

It was late June and the sun was beating down on the citizens of Magnolia. Most people were either indoors or were at the local pools trying to cool themselves off. Stores around the city were relatively empty compared to previous days when the streets were full life.

Most of the street vendors were relaxing in this peaceful atmosphere since they have not had a chance to relax ever since the summer season began. The streets were silent and the world seemed actually peaceful for once.

Well, almost peaceful…

"Come back here you little brats, you guys did not pay for that!" yelled a middle-aged man.

Suddenly, two kids ran out of the local pastry shop clutching bags filled with the store owner's finest bread. They had slightly amused and somewhat terrified expressions on their faces as they ran down the block.

One kid was a slim, young boy with straight dark hair with bangs. He wore an open jacket that showed his prominent abdominal muscles and biceps while wearing loose-fitted pants. The other child was a petite, young girl with fair skin and dark blue hair that reached down to her waist. She had big brown eyes and was wearing a dress with a yellow and blue pattern on it with a white bow in the center of her chest making look her even more innocent.

"Sorry we really need this food!" shouted out the little girl.

He was infuriated because he had trusted those kids. _Tch after everything I've done for those ungrateful brats and they steal from me!_

The kids kept running deeper into the town until then finally found an alleyway that they decided was best to hide in. They hid behind one of the dumpsters until they heard Mr. Clive run past them muttering furiously to himself.

"She isn't going to be happy about this you know." The little girl whispered.

"But I wanna surprise her 'cause she deserves it. Plus we need the money and you know that." The little boy smiled reassuringly at her.

"If we get caught it's your fault." She frowned and he grabbed her hand and gave it a tight squeeze before they checked if the coast was clear.

Seeing that Mr. Clive was long gone, the kids ran towards where they knew their favorite elder was working during this hour. They ran to a small shop at the end of town that sold sweets and pastries. When they opened the door, the bell that alerted the workers that there was a costumer in the shop made a satisfying noise. An old woman came to the front of the store and she smiled when she recognized the children.

"Follow me, she's this way."

The old woman took them to the upstairs part of her shop which was a residential area and spotted her cleaning the room. She pointed the kids in the young woman's direction and then walked back down stairs when she heard the door bells ring.

"Miss Lucy!" The children yelled and ran up to her.

The young woman was quite attractive. She was in her early twenties with curves that perfectly hugged her uniform. She was fairly taller than most girls by an inch or two and golden hair that usually spilled over her shoulders but at the moment she had it tied up in a perfect bun. Her best feature were her exquisite chocolate brown eyes. They may be a common eye color however anyone who looked at them were quite memorized at how kindly they looked at you and captured your attention.

"Romeo, Wendy." Lucy smiled softly and hugged the kids who were hugging her amorously.

"Look at what we got for you!" Romeo gave her a bright, toothy smile and held up the bag of bread.

"That's wonderful, thank you." Lucy grabbed the bag and suspiciously eyed it.

"Oh no." Wendy whispered.

"Where did you guys get this?" Lucy questioned the kids.

Busted. Romeo and Wendy shied away from Lucy as if to avoid her questioning look. A happy Lucy was oddly comforting. When she was happy, the whole room seemed to brighten up however a mad Lucy was a completely different entity. The kids noticed Lucy frown and place the bread on a near by desk.

"Sorry Lucy, we just wanted to make you feel better. You've been sad a lot lately and so we brought you bread so you don't have so spend so much money so that you're not so sad anymore." Wendy said shyly as she hid behind Romeo.

Lucy sighed, "I appreciate the thought you two, I really do. Stealing, however, is not acceptable. The poor person who worked for this bread just lost around 40 jewels."

Romeo and Wendy suddenly felt bad for Mr. Clive. The old man had shown them compassion whenever they would walk into his bakery and yet these kids decided to steal from him. Thar was no way to treat someone who was so kind. They would be upset up someone decided to steal from their beloved Lucy and they could imagine how Mr. Clive must have felt when they ran off with his hard-earned bread.

"We'll return the bread to him then." Romeo suggested to lessen the disappointment that seemed to radiate off of Lucy.

Lucy looked out the window and frowned again. "It's getting late, I was about to head home too and it wouldn't be safe for you two to be out there at night."

Night was a forbidden time for Romeo and Wendy to go outside. Lucy was already extremely lenient with the children when it came to where they could go, what they could do, and who they were able to see. If there were three things that Lucy was overwhelming strict on they would be no lying, no making promises you couldn't keep and no going out at night.

Both kids thought that the third rule was the odd one out from the three. The other two made sense to them as they knew it was morally wrong but they last one didn't apply to that. Whenever they asked her why they weren't allowed to go out at night, she would give them a look that made them shrink wherever they were standing and would say "never mind" and scurry away. It was absolutely forbidden. It was absolutely a secret.

Lucy grabbed a coat and wrapped it around her. It covered her uniform and the hood would cover her hair and face however it failed to hide her magnetic aura and the way her hips swayed as she walked. "Let's go."

She waved goodbye at the old woman and walked out the front door with Romeo holding her left hand and Wendy holding her right. The sun was going down and people had begun closing their shops while others also headed home. It was odd seeing people close down their stories so early when they still had a few good hours of people walking around left but the kids decided not to question it any further.

The arrived at Lucy's apartment and walked inside the familiar place. The tense atmosphere seemed to just evaporate with the smell of their elder's house. Lucy took off her hood and looked through her mail. The kids knew it would be time for them to go to bed soon so they decided to look for a snack in her refrigerator.

"You bought strawberry cake?" Romeo and Wendy's eyes sparkled as they eyed the cake.

"Yes, it's your favorite right? I thought it'd be a nice treat." Lucy said without looking up from the mail she was reading.

Romeo and Wendy divulged into the cake. It had been a while since they had their favorite desert and it completely pulled them out of the gloomy mood they had been in. After a good twenty minutes of eating a couple slices of cake, Lucy reminded the kids that they had school the next day. Romeo finished washing the plates while Wendy separated their uniforms for tomorrow.

The kids changed into their pajamas and waiting for Lucy to say goodnight to them as she always did. After a little bit, Lucy walked into their room and she noticed that the kids were starting to drift to sleep. "Goodnight Romeo. Goodnight Wendy." And she slipped out when she knew that the kids were deeply asleep.

Lucy was not going to sleep just yet. She had another shift at another work place. She grabbed her keys, placed the hood over her head again, and she headed out into the very thing that she had forbidden the kids to wander around in. The night.

One would imagine that in a town like Magnolia that the night would be a quiet place. That statement could be more incorrect. At night, party-hungry teens and older folk looking to live a more risqué double life were out and about. On the main streets the people grew even more rowdy and more dangerous to be near. Lucy knew how to avoid the crowds after years of practice. She normally didn't have any trouble getting to work however tonight there was a problem.

A construction site was blocking the road, disrupting Lucy's usual route. However, Lucy was prepared and decided that she would use her backup route. At a steady walk, Lucy maneuvered in the dark avoided anyone that she saw. There was no way she was going to risk being recognized by anyone.

She was halfway there to her workplace when she heard two people fighting. She was conflicted as to whether or not to intervene because it was not her business in the first place. Lucy decided that she was just going to walk away until she heard a sound crash and maniacal laughter. She ran to the source of the sound and peeked around the corner and saw a woman with red hair in braids and a sparkly, long red dress.

Lucy noticed that the red-haired woman was staring at a man who had been thrown on the ground. Suddenly, the woman's hair grew larger and coiled around the man like a snake who had just captured its pray. Lucy hissed. _Of all of nights I had to encounter a damn mage now._ She kept staring at the quarrel wondering why the man with the strange colored hair wasn't fighting back.

She longer she stared, the more she felt this sinking feeling that something wasn't right. The man was unconscious. There were certain rules that every mage had to follow. One of those unspoken rules was to have fights that were fairly one. Another was that it was punishable by death to kill another mage.

 _I have to do something otherwise he might die._ Lucy thought to herself. She sighed and pulled out the gun that she kept hidden in her clothes whenever she went out at night. It wasn't any regular gun. It was one that Lucy that created to mute a magic-user's powers long enough to escape. She aimed it at the woman and didn't hesitate to shoot.

 _*Bang*_

The woman shrieked as her convulsed in pain. Her hair shrunk back to their normal length and she fell on the floor. "What the hell? My powers…they're gone!"

Lucy stepped out and walked towards the mage. "Off with you, you magic user."

The woman slowly got up and looked at the cloaked figure. "You… what did you do to me?"

"Walk away if you know what's best for you." Lucy said impatiently.

"You'll regret this." The woman said with a creepy grin and ran away.

Lucy glanced at the man on the floor. She kneeled and softly touched the man's face. She placed her head on his chest to listen to a heartbeat. She was relieved when she heard a strong heartbeat and lifted her head. The man slowly opened his eyes but his eyes shot wide open the moment he realized a figure was leaning over him. "Damn."

"Is that all you are going to say to the woman who just saved your ass?" Lucy frowned at his ungrateful attitude but it's not like he could see her face anyway.

"Sorry I…ugh just what happened? I was so fired up to fight Flare and next thing I know she's gone." He groaned while placing his hand on his head.

"I didn't see how you became unconscious. I simply scared her away." Her voice rang with satisfaction.

He gave her a goofy smile truly amazed at this strange person. "I've never seen someone scare her away. She's usually the one who scares others away with that creepy smile of hers."

"Well I see that you're fine now so I'll just be going now." Lucy got up and started to walk away however the pink-haired wouldn't let her slip away so easily.

"What's your name?" He said as he happily walked next to Lucy stretching.

She kept walking, ignoring the man. She had just met him and yet he had the decency to start prying into her life. She wasn't an open book to people she knew well so there was no way that he was going to be an open book for him. The man stepped in front of her and Lucy let out an annoyed groan.

"I'll leave ya alone if ya tell me your name." He said with a grin.

Lucy scoffed and walked around him. Once again the man stepped in front of her and smiled, stopping her once again. "I'm Natsu."

Lucy hesitated, "Call me… Star."

Her eyes widened. Had she just given him a hint about her identity? _What the hell is wrong with me?_ Surprised with her choice to reveal part of her identity she pushed the man, ran and turned a corner. Natsu followed her but once she turned the corner she had disappeared into the crowd of people that were roaming the streets.

Natsu had a dopey smile on his face and took in the scent of the mysterious woman which still lingered in the air. Like hell he would forget that smell that seemed to engulf the woman. "Strawberries and cream, huh?"


	2. Sacrificing Sanity

_Hello readers! It's me, Ella. I'm so surprised to see feedback for my first chapter so soon._

 _THANK YOU SO MUCH for the reads and views. It really does mean a lot to me._

 _A couple people wanted me to update as quickly as possible and so here I am._

 _Sorry if I do not update as much as you'd like but it's testing season and so for the next month I'll be studying extensively for my exams. I wish I could concentrate on writing this story but the only time I can find to write it is in between classes, free time at school and the hour or so I have left after finishing homework._

 _ **Warning:** Please remember that this story is rated Teen which means that there will be topics on here that will be strongly suggestive, mature language, and crude/harsh realities. Also I'd like you to remember that people (or in this case characters) do this for a reason. One might not necessarily agree with their morals or choices however those mistakes, beliefs or decisions are what make them special. _

**Summary of previous chapter:**

Romeo and Wendy stole some items from Mr. Clive, a man who was compassionate towards him, in order to cheer up their caretaker, Lucy. Lucy was disappointed in the children for stealing however she realized that they had no ill will and so she let them off the hook by reminding them not to do it again. The kids questioned the few rules that Lucy strictly makes them follow but decide it's best not to question it because their caretaker knows best. In the night, Lucy sneaks out to go to work at a place she has kept hidden from the kids. On the way there she runs into two people fighting, she makes one of them run away while saving the other in the process. She finds out that the man who's life she saved is named Natsu and she surprisingly reveals information about herself before running away.

 _Anyways, without further or do here is the story._

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Sacrificing Sanity**

* * *

Lucy ran into the crowd of drunken people that she was trying to avoid because she had calculated that that was her best hope to escape from that man. It seemed ironic that she had been in close contact with the two things that she had hoped that she wouldn't be in contact with. Mages and drunk people.

Normally she would have taken her time to get to work because her shift didn't start until another hour however the encounter with the mage and pink haired man and her detour cost her 45 minutes. She sprinted and easily maneuvered her way through the crowd and turned right into an alley way. The alleyway was full of people making out in the crevasses where the partners thought the darkness hid them well.

Lucy rolled her eyes, a bit disgusted by the lack of decency these people had but she wasn't one to talk. She knew well that she had no right to criticize their lifestyle when hers wasn't necessarily a healthy one either. She understood them. Maybe not in the romantic aspect of it because sometimes a girls needs to do what they can to get by. Even if that means sacrificing a bit of sanity.

She finally arrived at the door and smiled at the bouncer. "Name?" The big, intimidating man asked.

Lucy simply removed her hood and raised an eyebrow at the bouncer. She wasn't in the mood for arguing with the new bouncer again. Last time they argued it ended up with Lucy kicking the guy in the place where the sun doesn't shine and him tumbling down the stairs.

The bouncer recognized her, nervously smiled and quickly let her inside. No questions asked. She was satisfied that he had gotten the memo that she is a highly welcomed person here. The moment she walked in, the scent of cigarettes and booze became very prominent. She walked towards the backroom after shoving her way through tons of people who were standing around the edges of the room.

Lucy had finally managed to get to the backroom without too much of a hassle and let out a sigh of relief.

"You're late." A female voice said as she walked into the room through another door.

"Sorry, I got caught up with something. I'm not too late though so you wouldn't tell boss about this right?"

The blue-haired woman smiled at her and Lucy gave her a small smile and hugged her. "Thanks J, you're a lifesaver."

"Juvia would never betray Lucy. Juvia and Lucy will stick together even after we get out of this place." Juvia nodded.

"I'll hope so J. I truly hope so."

Lucy took off her cloak and placed it in her locker for safe keeping. Underneath the piece of fabric that hid most of her body she bad been wearing a risqué outfit that was tight and hugged her curves. Her breasts were highly extenuated by the dress and her legs seemed to go on for miles up until it reached the dress that covered the top of her legs. The bottom of the dress ended dangerously close to her undergarments were which made her weary to move too much in her attire.

It was a bright red color that perfectly brought out Lucy's eyes and skin color. The only things she needed to do were fix up her hair and do her makeup. That's where Juvia came in. She was a master of putting the final touches on the girls around here. Lucy would sometimes stare in awe of Juvia's work because even she thought she was unrecognizable when Juvia was done her with.

What Lucy didn't know was that Juvia took extra good care of her. Her friend really did care for her and she wanted to return the favor after everything Lucy had done for her. If it hadn't been for Lucy, she would have still been in an abusive relationship with her ex. She would have been so lost, not knowing what do to. Lucy was like a beacon who helped her find her way back to shore after her ship sank.

Lucy had also helped her learn to control something that she was afraid of. However, Juvia would rather not think about it since she promised her friend that she wouldn't use it or bring it up unless it was absolutely necessary. She wanted to keep that promise even if it was one of the last things she would do. It was their ultimate truce.

"Another beautiful makeover, J. How do you do it?" Lucy laughed softly.

"Juvia thinks that Lucy is already very beautiful so Juvia didn't do much to Lucy. Only thing Juvia changed is Lucy's hair color with the wig."

"You're a real catch too you know? Any person would be luck to have you." Lucy squeezed Juvia's shoulder.

They headed out back into the club and began working. Juvia was one of the woman who worked behind the bar but occasionally she would be swapped with someone else to be one of the dancers on stage. Lucy on the other hand was one of the waitresses which was a job she dreaded.

Although it paid good it didn't help the fact that most men and the occasional woman there would ogle her as if she were an object. Also many of the people she served would get really touchy and would try to grab her in inappropriate places. If she wasn't paying attention they would succeed but if she was then she'd casually move away and act as if it were an accident that she ruined their moment to shine.

I'm doing this for the kids. Lucy reminded herself. She had to make money somehow and the other jobs she had weren't cutting it. This job gave her enough money to pay for her overpriced apartment and basic necessities but the day jobs were to buy treats for them such as the strawberry cake that she had bought them earlier.

"Star, I see that you've made a delicious amount of jewels so far." Lucy grimaced when she heard her boss.

"Precht." Lucy tried to ignore the boss without sounding rude.

"Now…now… you know I don't like going by that name in this environment. Hades is better suiting don't you think?" He grinned while looking around his establishment.

Lucy nodded and went back to cleaning the tables of people who had gotten up and headed to the backrooms with some of the dancers. Her boss every once in a while would catch her at inappropriate times but she always tried to continue doing whatever she was doing. Although it was inconvenient, those few occasions where they talked usually were for important reasons. She may not enjoy talking to him but it kept her well informed about work related topics or at the very least caught up with the latest gossip between the older folk in Magnolia.

"I was thinking of putting Raindrop on dancing crew...", Hades grinned evilly, "…permanently."

Lucy almost dropped the glass beer mugs she had picked up from the table. "You promised me you wouldn't do that to her. We had a deal."

Juvia hated being a dancer. She was normally a very reserved girl who would much rather not flaunt her body in front of a bunch of strangers. In order to save Juvia from this, Lucy had sacrificed some of her pay and it was a secret deal between herself and her boss. Now the bastard was taking back his word and she fumed with anger.

"I need more girls to capture the attention of more customers. Whenever we place new girls up there a crowd of people come to see if that new girl spikes their interest 'n I'm looking to increase business around here."

"Boss, please don't do this to her. You can't." She responded with a hint of disappointment and deception evident in her voice.

"If not her then who?" Lucy noticed the hint of mischief that showed in her boss's eyes.

Lucy frowned, "…I'll do it."

He grinned at her. "Oh really? You would do that for her? I mean, it's her responsibility but if you oh so kindly insist then there's no way I can refuse you."

"Right." She said back, a bit annoyed at him.

Her boss smiled triumphantly and held out his hand to seal the deal. "I'll restore your pay back to the full amount to compensate you accordingly for this. You should thank me."

She began to suspect that the damn bastard had planned secretly hoped that she would agree to take Juvia's place. He old man got on her nerves however he was her biggest provider and she didn't want to risk losing a job that helped her keep her apartment. This man was playing with her need to earn enough money and was taking it as an opportunity to exploit her.

Lucy did not appreciate this man messing with her. It also unnerved her when she spotted him getting too close to other woman to the point where it seemed like he was breath down on their necks. Despite the many things that her boss has done to annoy her, she is quite satisfied with having a boss that isn't too controlling unless so long as she made plenty of money.

She gave him a fake smile. "Thanks boss."

It pained her to give him the satisfaction that he did not deserve but she did what she had to do to remain on his good side. The boss, however, was not happy with the way she addressed him. Lucy normally refused to refer to any of her co-workers by their stage names because she has always felt that it takes away from who they truly are. However, now she understands more than ever why people preferred to live a double life.

"Nuh uh. Come on now Star." Hades frowned.

Lucy finally grabbed his hand and shook it firmly and with a voice laced with sarcasm she said two words that she did not think she'd say to him. "Thanks Hades."

* * *

It was around noon the following day and the streets that were once bustling with the intense party life instantaneously disappeared as soon as the sun awoke. Lucy had gone to sleep that night with little to no problem at all, Natsu's case was a different story. He had an incredulously difficult time falling to sleep when he arrived home that night.

He tried to figure out exactly why he was couldn't fall asleep. Natsu was normally not one to pass up a good chance to sleep when the opportunity presented itself. He went through a mental checklist of things that could have possibly contributed to his lack of sleep. _I fought with Ice Princess._ Natsu knew that he fought with him all the time and it rarely caused him to not want to sleep. On the rare occasions where they would fight and it really ended up hurting his friend's feelings Natsu would head to bed feeling extremely guilty and would end up running to his best friend's house in a frenzy to apologize.

 _Maybe I'm hungry._ Natsu laughed to himself. He knew that that wouldn't be possible because he always made sure to tend to the needs of his stomach which deceivingly could hold a lot more food than most people thought. There would be no way that he would allow himself to starve but he still tried eating some snacks from his fridge but it didn't have any effect on him. He concluded that that was not why he was feeling so restless either.

And then it hit him like a train of realization. _Star._

He smiled when he thought of that girl that had saved him from Flare. She made him feel an indescribable way, something that was new to him and he didn't even know what she looked like. Typically Natsu was the type of person who could always compare a certain thing to another even if that analogy didn't come across well to other people because in his mind it made totally sense and that's all the really mattered. It baffled him how he could not put a finger on what was going on in his mind.

He knew for a fact that he had found the girl interesting considering that she scared away one of the most feared people in Magnolia. She wasn't feared because of her powers but more because of how creepy people thought he was which off put many people. Natsu wondered if the girl knew who the red-haired mage was or if she simply believe she was an easy person to scare away.

 _She seems like the type of girl who isn't afraid to fight._ So Natsu had no doubt that either way, Star would put up a fight. She was also most likely a courageous woman because she stood up for a complete stranger. He had no idea had transpired between Star and Flare when he was unconscious. What exactly did she do to scare her away? That would remain a mystery to him unless either of them in the future would tell him what happened.

Another set of actions that would remain a mystery to him unless it was explained to him is why she kept trying to get away from him every chance she could. It would be odd for someone that he believe to be brave and selfless to be shy when in conversation. He certainly knew it was possible but he had this strange feeling that there was more to it than that.

Had he tried to pry too much? He had simply asked the girl what her name was and during the heat of the moment he had internally begun to panic. Natsu could tell that she wasn't being entirely truthful but at the same time he knew she wasn't lying. _Ah, she gave me an alias._

It made sense. A suspicious person who was walking around in a cloak at those hours was bound to be hiding something. Natsu understood. He too had an alias that he was well known by and at times he believed that more people knew as him as his alias. He didn't mind too much though because the people he truly cared about knew and addressed him by his real name and now Star was included on this list.

Natsu lay on his bed continuing to think about the strange actions of the girl whom he deemed as "the weird girl" when he looked at the clock in his room. It was time to head to the guild but he didn't want to get up from where he was. After around two seconds of consideration, he thought it would be best for him to stay home and catch up on his sleep. Or perhaps just rest because the mysterious girl would probably preoccupy his mind the rest of the day.

Natsu didn't mind sacrificing one day of adventure because of Star. In fact, he believed that he found the person that might take him on his best adventure yet.


	3. A Stranger's Effect

_Hello readers! It's me, Ella._

 _THANK YOU SO MUCH for the reads and views. AHHHHH I have over 217 reads and it has been less than a week. I am honestly so surprised. Thank you. Thank you._

 _As I have stated before: "'Sorry if I do not update as much as you'd like but it's testing season and so for the next month I'll be studying extensively for my exams. I wish I could concentrate on writing this story but the only time I can find to write it is in between classes, free time at school and the hour or so I have left after finishing homework."_

 _In order to compensate for this the chapter is twice as long as the previous two._

 _ **Warning:**_ _Please remember that this story is rated Teen which means that there will be topics on here that will be strongly suggestive, mature language, and crude/harsh realities. Also I'd like you to remember that people (or in this case characters) do this for a reason. One might not necessarily agree with their morals or choices however those mistakes, beliefs or decisions are what make them special._

 **Summary of previous chapter:**

-Lucy arrives at her night job.

-The reader meets Juvia, a fellow coworker of her there.

-An brief explanation of the relationship between Juvia and Lucy.

-A glimpse of Lucy's protective nature as shown when shielding Juvia.

-The reader meets their boss, Hades. (He's an ass btw)

-Reader finds out a place where Lucy is called by her alias.

-Natsu had trouble falling asleep because he was thinking of "Star".

-He decides to stay in his home sleeping because he doesn't feel like going to the guild.

 _Anyways, without further or do here is the story._

* * *

 **Chapter 3: A Stranger's Effect**

* * *

"Mornin' Romeo." Wendy poked Romeo's cheek as she tried to wake up him.

"Five more minutes." He rolled over and mumbled into his pillow.

"I'll give you five more seconds and if you don't get up then I'll tell Lucy." She threatened.

Romeo did not respond to her threat because he was trying to fall back asleep again. He was still very tired from the day before since they did so much running around town. It felt as if they had been around all of Magnolia yesterday but in reality they had only explored a small portion of the large town.

"Five." Wendy began counting down to sike him out.

He wasn't a morning person. He hated having to wake up early because he knew that waking up before the sun was completely out meant that he had to do something that day that he most likely did not want to do. He did not appreciate people telling him that sleeping in wastes precious hours of the day because he valued sleep very much.

"Four."

When he was living on the streets he had no reason to get up early and did not have a bed time. That is one of the freedoms that he enjoyed very much and it's one of the few things that he misses about living that kind of lifestyle. Ever since Lucy enrolled Romeo and Wendy in school, they don't get as much free time as they used to have.

"Three."

Now the kids have to keep up with schoolwork that can be quite tedious at times. Whenever he's at home, Wendy has to mind him to his homework otherwise he'd completely forget or find some excuse as to why he couldn't do it. Although it should be the guardians job to keep track of their kids progress and attention in school, Lucy is far too busy working many different jobs to pay attention to those things.

"Two."

Lucy had sat down with them, explaining that she couldn't find the time to see if they had done all of their homework or tutor them. She trusted them to try their hardest in school and complete all of their assignments. The kids understood why she needed their help and they appreciated that she confided in them to maintain decent grades in school.

"One."

Not only did Lucy confide in them to be attentive in school but she also taught them how to take care of themselves in many different regards. They know how to bathe properly, get dressed, get snacks, get home, teach themselves and how to be a good person. She taught them a lot of things for their sake. When it was something that they were perfectly capable to handle, she would let them do it.

Another one of those things was how to get ready people school in the morning, Even though Romeo was not in the mood to learn about things that did not interest him he still knew that he needed to learn because Lucy had went through so much trouble in the beginning trying to teach them etiquette, proper English and good morals. Maybe their elder might not teach them things from their curriculum anymore but they still learn valuable life lessons from her.

"Time's up." Wendy smiled mischievously.

She proceeded to tickling her best friend and he burst out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Wendy knew that the attack they named "tickle fit" was highly effected against each other. He knew that she always had something up her sleeve because she always managed to find a way to make him become wide awake.

"Alright! Alright! I'll get up." Romeo laughed and lightly pushed Wendy away from him.

"Aha, I conquered your sleepiness!" Wendy said proudly.

Romeo smiled and in a loving manner he ruffled her hair. "You sure did. Good job, Wen."

Her eyes widened in surprise of his response. It was rare when he would complement her for being able to make him do something he didn't want to do. Normally he would have been more difficult to provoke and she would end up having to do something more drastic but today he didn't put up much of a fight. _He's probably in a good mood this morning._

Either way, Wendy blushed and fixed her hair. "Oh…thanks."

Romeo didn't seem to notice the blush that had creeped up on her cheeks and proceeded to getting dressed. It didn't take much for either children to get ready in the morning. They had learned to be efficient because another lesson that Lucy taught them was that time was one of the most valuable things you can have. It motivated the kids to hurry up in the mornings so that they had more time to walk to school.

About 20 minutes later, Wendy and Romeo walked out to the kitchen table and sat down. Lucy had prepared them delicious pancakes with syrup on Wendy's and grape jam on Romeo's. They began diving into the food when she sat down along side them while placing cups of milk on the table.

"Good morning." She took a tip of her coffee and ran a hand through her hair.

"Good mornin'." The kids said in unison.

"You guys ready for school?"

"Always present and ready to learn." Wendy replied confidently.

"Sure I guess." Romeo mumbled.

"Cheer up Romeo, one day all this learning will pay off. Maybe you won't need all of it but it's better to be safe then sorry. There's a possibly that knowing things like it's safer to put acids into water rather than the other way around. It might save your life someday."

"Yeah right, when would I ever need to know that?" He huffed in response.

"Some of the information they teach you might be more useful than you think. Just always pay attention in class and hopefully the really important things stick with you."

"Okay…"

He was unconvinced because he never understood why they taught so many useless things at school. There were so many subjects that did not interest him. The language classes were boring, he thought that they weren't necessary because he believe he already knew enough English to last him a lifetime. Math was a nightmare. They made the steps seem easier than they were and the numbers just didn't click with him.

He had an interest in his science class. He found it cool when the teacher would do experiments or explain events such as explosions. In that class, you were able to get away with so many things because you could say that it was something you wanted to test.

He prided himself in his ability to do things without getting in trouble. At school, he could pull pranks on people that messed with Wendy or himself and everything would turn out okay. Even though he was able to do that at school, he wasn't able to avoid getting caught by Lucy. Sometimes he swore that she had to have eyes in the back of her head because he thought it was simply not possible for him to get caught so easily.

"It's time to head out." Lucy got up and picked up the dirty dishes from the table.

The kids ran to their room to get their backpacks. By the time they got back to the living room Lucy had finished washing the dishes and was putting on her shoes. Before they walked out she grabbed an umbrella because she was expecting it to rain because she was told by a reliable source.

The trip to school would take about 10 minutes at a leisurely pace. As they walked, Romeo and Wendy would normally have little conversations between one another and today was no exception.

"I like cats more because they are so cute." Wendy said with a sweet smile.

"Dogs are so cool though. I could kick ass with a dog." Romeo replied.

Lucy gave Romeo a look and warned him. "Language, Romeo."

Romeo groaned and Wendy looked at her. "How 'bout you Lucy? Which do you like more?'

"Hmm… well honestly I love both but cats are more fitting for me don't you think?"

"I can see you being an amazing cat owner one day."

"That is if I ever get a cat."

"If you get a cat can you also get a dog?" Romeo was crossing his fingers hoping that she'd say yes.

"I'm not going to promise to do something I'm not sure I'll even do."

"Pleeeeease."

"Alright, I'll think about it."

Romeo and Wendy both secretly cheered at Lucy's maybe statement. To them it would mean the world if she let them have a pet. They both had wanted a little companion ever since they could remember even if they wanted them for completely different reasons.

They finally arrived at school and Lucy bent down and hugged the kids. They lovingly hugged her back and looked towards the school somewhat eager to enter.

"Remember to be home immediately after school. Juvia will be there to take care of you guys in the mean time."

"Is Uncle Metal going to be there?" Romeo wondered.

Lucy laughed at his nickname for her friend. "Yes, Gajeel is going to be there too."

"Woah really? I can ask him if he can fix my toy. He's really good at that." Wendy said happily.

"Alright now, class is about to start. Bye Romeo. Bye Wendy."

Lucy waved at them as they ran into the school. The bell that indicated when class started rung and that let her know that she should be in her way to one of her day jobs now. This job was as a waitress. She liked having jobs were she communicated directly with other people.

She didn't find the charm in serving other people or putting up with the tedious and outrageous behavior of the costumers. However, it helped Lucy stay in the loop of all the town gossip and helped her learn to control herself in strenuous situations.

Everything she did she took it as an opportunity to learn about other people and their mannerisms. It also allowed her to grow as a person and allowed her to develop "street smarts", something that she had little of before she arrived in Magnolia.

"Why hello there Lucy, today is busier than usual so we're gonna need all the help we can get."

Lucy walked in the restaurant with her boss and friend frantically trying to serve orders. The young woman was around her own age and had short white hair in a form similar to a pixie cut. She was an extremely nice and gentle person who was compassionate towards everyone she met. She was wearing a short blue dress and an apron which was the uniform at the place she worked.

"Yukino, let me get the apron from the back and I'll help you out."

"Thank you darling!" Yukino said with a brightly smile.

Lucy walked to the kitchen and picked up her apron. She placed it around her waist and made sure that the bun she made with her golden hair was still decent. When she was pleased with how she looked, she headed out into the serving area to help her friend.

After 5 hours or so of taking people's orders, both Lucy and Yukino were tired. Just because they were slowly down physically didn't mean that they would be exhausted enough to talk. Yukino saw this as an opportunity to catch up with her dear friend.

"So, what have you been up to?"

Lucy sighed. "I've been busy trying to make enough money to support the kids."

"I know that your kiddos are important and all but enough talk about them. How about you? Meet anyone who peeked your interest?"

Lucy paused. She met new people on a daily basis however it was rare to remember who anyone really was. It wasn't rare to run into mages but it was a bit strange to see a one-sided fight. She was reminded of the pink-haired man that she had run into the night before.

She thought that he was certainly attractive. He had prominent abs and toned muscles. She figured that he either cared about his physical appearance or was a very active person. His hair was certainly a statement. It would catch anyone's attention pretty easily because it's so different but oddly enough she thought it suited him.

Lucy would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about him. _He said his name was Natsu._ She thought his name was just as funny as his hair. From what she could tell, he was a persistent man who had seemed to quite easily forget the he had been viciously attacked moments prior to when he woke up.

One thing that remained unclear was whether or not Natsu was a mage. It would be strange but not unheard of that a mage would go out and attack a random citizen. Usually if there was a problem between a magic-user and a townsperson then they'd fight it out using their fists. No magic. It was sort of a strange but expected moral code that was to be honored.

If she were to come to find out that he is a mage then she wouldn't be surprised. Unfortunately if he turned out to not be a regular townsperson then Lucy will need to avoid him at all costs. It was her own rule to stay clear of mages and Natsu was no exception. However, she was close to certain mages and she feels at ease that they really do have one another's backs.

"There are always people who peek my interest, Yukino."

Each of these people that she allowed to remain close to her gained her trust through different ways. Nonetheless, they're people that actually were exceptions to Lucy's rule. If they were able to prove their alliance and trust to Lucy then she secretly hoped that Natsu would be able to become an exception to that rule too.

* * *

There are two types of people in this world. Those who are morning person and those who aren't. Natsu wasn't a morning person. He would normally be very energetic but the moments after he would wake up from a long sleep were never kind to him. He would be groggy and wouldn't have his head on straight.

However, it wasn't morning anymore but he was still in a dazed mood. He decided it was time to head to the guild because all this confusion and moping wasn't doing him any good. Even if he wasn't in the mood to do much today he thought that maybe it would allow him to clear his head

Natsu walked to the guild and when he opened the doors to the building all the people in the room turned their heads to see who had walked in. When most of the people realized it was Natsu they went back to whatever they were doing. Some of them, however, kept looking at him because they were curious about him walking in so late.

"Flame brain finally decided to show up."

"Shut yur trap ice princess."

Natsu sat at a stool at the bar table and laid his head on the counter. His friend sat down next to him and raised his eyebrow. Gray was a blunt and cold person both emotionally and literally. His personality was almost the complete opposite of Natsu's but they got along quite well.

Many people wouldn't think that liked each other but they knew each other better than a lot of people in the guild did. Gray and Natsu did fight a lot because they managed to bring out each other's hidden side but they had no ill intentions when they did so. Those in the guild thought that they acted like brothers and even though they would say that they couldn't stand each other.

"What's the matter with you?"

"Nothin'." Natsu groaned and tried to ignore him.

As Natsu moped on the counter, Mira, Levy, Cana and Erza surrounded him. Erza had just picked an assignment from the job board and wanted to test her strength once again before she left. She pointed her sword at Natsu, preparing herself for a battle. "Fight me, Natsu!"

"Nah."

The group went silent. He has never backed down from the chance to practice his fighting. This would be the first time he has ever said no to that opportunity. Meanwhile Erza dropped her sword and was a bit disappointed his dismal of her proposal.

"Did he just say no?" Gray blinked.

"He's broken!" Levy gasped.

"Natsu, who broke you? I shall make them pay for putting you in this confused state." Erza grabbed Natsu by the collar and shook him.

"Erza put him down yur gunna make him dizzy. We don't need him throwin' up." Cana said as she took a sip of her beer.

Erza put Natsu down and began discussing with the others about what could have possibly gotten into him. Mira chuckled at their confusion because they were causing a such commotion. She decided that she would try and ask him without threatening him or the person who did this to him.

"Hey, Natsu. You okay? You're not acting like yourself." Mira asked gently.

He looked up at Mira and groaned. "Didn't get much sleep."

"And why's that? Something on your mind?"

Natsu hesitated. Many of the people he knew always had tried to see if he was actually as oblivious as he seemed to be so they would do or say things to him to get a reaction out of him. Sometimes when he would mention how he felt or talk about someone he saw they would take the chance to see if he had feelings for that person. He knew that they'd blow things out of proportion and Mira, although she had good intentions, was perhaps the worst person at not assuming that something more than friendship was going on.

"I… uh… ran into this girl that may have kinda saved me from Flare." He smiled nervously.

She blinked. When she finally processed what he had said, she grinned. "Ooh… and what was her name?"

"She told me what to call her but I think it's an alias."

She frowned. "So is that why you're acting weird? You wanna know who that mystery girl is."

"I didn't even thank her and it's been bothering me."

"Hmm… I'll tell you what. Instead of sitting here all depressed why do you go out and find her. She gave you some clues right? You're persistent and I know that you can find her if you search good enough. The clock is ticking and the longer you sit here the less likely it will be to find her."

"You're right! I'm gonna find her and thank her if it's the last thing I do." He got up and ran out the door.

"Good luck, Natsu!" Mira yelled.

Erza turned to her. "Mira, where is he headed?"

Mira smiled and placed her hand on her precious necklace. "To find the person who has sparked a new flame in his heart."


	4. Nighttime Interrogation

_Hello readers, it's Ella!_

 _I cannot believe that I have over 300 reads. That is truly incredible. THANK YOU sooooo much for this, you guys have no idea how happy this makes me feel. :)_

 _Exams are killing me but on the bright side there are less than 22 days of school left for me. I still have various AP exams, projects and finale exams to deal with but after that I'm scotch free._

 _This chapter finally is where there is a lot more dialogue than exposition which is something that I'm new at writing so please bare with me if the conversations don't seem to flow. If there is anyway that I could improve it, please let me know in a review so I'll get a notification._

 _Also the chapters are still unedited so sorry if there are errors! I will go back and fix them when I have the chance._

 ** _Summary of last chapter:_**

\- - _Learned a bit about Romeo's past and feelings_

\- - _Revealed a bit of about the relationship between the kids and Romeo_

\- - _Met Yukino, another boss and friend of Lucy's_

\- - _Lucy explained what she thought of Natsu_

\- - _Finally met part of the guild (Gray, Erza, Levy, Cana and Mira)_

\- - _They notice that he's acting strange_

\- - _Natsu decides to go look for "Star_ "

 _Anyways, without future or do here is the story._

* * *

Chapter 4: Nighttime Interrogation

* * *

"These brats won't stop messing with my guitar!"

"Juvia thinks Gajeel should calm down and have fun with Lucy's kids."

Gajeel grabbed his guitar and raised it high above his head. He valued his precious guitar more than majority of the things he owned because it brought him sanity. Whenever he played his favorite songs it seemed as if everything in the world made sense.

"Come on, Uncle G!" Romeo jumped up trying to reach the guitar.

"Arghhh! Juvia get 'em off me."

Juvia laughed and crouched down next to Romeo and Wendy. "Juvia thinks that it's time to eat before Juvia goes and leaves you with Gajeel."

"Okay Juvia-san." Wendy nodded.

Juvia served them some of the food that Lucy had prepared for them in the morning. When she saw that Romeo and Wendy were busy eating, she needed some fresh air and decided to step out onto the balcony in her friend's apartment. Juvia leaned on the railing and sighed as Gajeel had silently followed her.

"I still have a bad feeling about what you two chose to do." Gajeel leaned against the glass door frame.

"Juvia believes that this is for the best. Juvia and Lucy will protect each other."

"How can you do that if you refuse to protect yourself in every way you can? I know that you and Lucy aren't some weak little girls. You guys can defend yourselves mighty well but we're playing a dangerous game here and if you don't fight back then it will get worse."

"Before we had to worry about being pawns but now you have the Golden Gate by your side. We are so much stronger than we were before so don't underestimate what we can do Mr. Redfox."

Juvia and Gajeel turned around to see a serious-looking Lucy with her hands on her hip. She raised an eyebrow and walked out into the balcony. She had just gotten back from another day job were she worked as a cashier and was a bit tired.

"Bunny girl shows up just in time." He chuckled.

"Stop calling me that!" Lucy huffed indignantly.

"See Gajeel? Lucy knows that we are strong."

Lucy looked at him. "It's time that you realize that we are a force to be reckoned with."

"Go tell that to those counsel picks who ordered a hit on us."

Juvia's eyes widened. "The counsel sent someone after us?"

"Yeah they hired Fairy Tail punks to try 'n stop us. Probably mentioned it to Lumia Scale too."

Lucy scoffed. "How are they going to catch us if they don't even know what we look like? And why are they making other people do their bidding? What crimes are they charging us on?"

"They can get us when we meetin' up with the wrong people and those old farts are too lazy to take one step out of the counsel hall to fight us."

"We haven't done anything illegal."

"Doesn't matter, they want people to see that they still hold power over all of us."

"The moment we get caught it's over for all of us."

"I don't want to go back." Juvia said softly.

"Neither do I Juvia." Lucy placed a hand of her shoulder. "But I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen, for everyone's sake."

The town clock's bell rung and it indicated to Lucy and Juvia that they should get going. They grabbed their cloaks and Juvia waved goodbye at the kids before walking out the door. Lucy began closing the door before she opened it quickly and blurted out "please take care of them" to Gajeel before she left.

"Hey Uncle G, wanna play let-Romeo-play-with-my-guitar? It's a fun game!"

"I swear to Mavis, kid." Gajeel groaned and knowing that he'd have to deal with the kids for the rest of the night.

* * *

Lucy and Juvia headed out into the darkness of the night and walked together towards their night job. Lucy couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her and felt a bit uneasy. They walked in silence until the reached the construction site that had cause her to take a detour the night before.

"Juvia has to go buy something before arriving. Lucy should go on without me."

Lucy nodded at Juvia's request and walked off towards the same roads she used yesterday. She passed the spot where she had helped Natsu and was surprised at the disappointment she felt when he wasn't there. _Why would he even be there?_

"Star?"

Lucy jumped and stepped back, bumping into whomever had been standing behind her. She quickly moved away and turned around to see who she had bumped into. It was Natsu.

"I didn't expect to see you here again after what happened yesterday. Why in the world would you be here?" Lucy questioned.

"I didn't think you'd be here either. Why are you here?" Natsu replied.

"I asked you first."

"Well if I'm honest I came to see ya." Natsu stepped closer to her. "Makes me happy to run into ya again."

"You seem to have a habit of running into people you shouldn't be associated with. Walk away while you still have the chance."

"But what's the fun in that? You're weird and I like that." He smiled a big goofy grin.

"Weird? How so?"

"You keep runnin' away and I just wanna get to know the person who saved my ass."

"I'm weird for not telling my life's story to a stranger?" She laughed, "How cute."

Natsu's eyes widened and he ran a hand through his hair. "I like it when you laugh. Ya don't need to be so serious all the time."

Lucy frowned, "I have to be serious all the time because other people won't be."

"I betcha that you're the type of person that when you're happy everyone else feels happy too. Your smile and laugh is somethin' rare but when you reveal 'em it surely is a sight to see."

"Ahh…I don't know how to respond to that."

"Ya don't have to and I won't force ya to. Just take it as a well deserved compliment." He smiled softly.

"Well this was nice and all but I have to get going." Lucy backed away and began walking towards where she worked.

"Wait, where are ya headed? I'll come with you." He ran to catch up with her and walked along side her.

"None of your business."

"But I won't do anything bad to ya. Where you work is public knowledge so no harm no foul, right?"

"Not at the place I work." Lucy mumbled to herself.

Natsu became quiet and didn't utter another word. Even though she has only known him for a couple of minutes she could tell that it was out of character for him to be so silenced. In her mind, she was thinking of the all possible reasons he became quiet.

Maybe he was hurt by her refusal to tell him where she worked. Or maybe he was angry that he couldn't get anything out of her. Or perhaps he had given up on asking her so many questions and he has admitted defeat.

"Oi, Star?" Natsu said as he finally spoke up.

"Yes?"

"Think your boss will mind if ya don't come to work today?"

"What?"

"Will your boss care if you don't go to work?"

"He obviously would care but it's not like I haven't skipped before."

"So is that a no?"

"Not really but why do you want to know?"

Natsu grabbed her hand, "'Cause I wanna show you something."

He pulled her and began running with her trailing behind.

"Natsu! What do you think you're doing? I need to go to work!" Lucy yelled at him.

He put into attention to her annoyance and continued running with her. She was confused as to why he insisted so much on bombarding her with questions before but now she was taken aback by his abrupt change of attitude. Now he was taking her somewhere she didn't know and she couldn't find the words to tell him to stop.

For some odd reason Lucy felt that she could trust him. She never dismissed her gut feeling because it was right most of the time so she had no real reason besides the fact that he was a stranger to not trust him.

It was crazy. She thought that she was going insane because she's actually going along with his scheme. If she were thinking straight then she would have pulled away almost immediately and would have gotten away from him the moment his guard his down.

But he was so… pure. She couldn't sense any bad hidden intention from him. He seemed to be genuinely curious as to who she is and what she was doing there. As badly as she wanted to have a normal conversation about that with him she knew that it would be quite foolish to do so.

She had spent all these months trying to keep her identities separate from each other. Each persona of hers associated with different person for an exception of Gajeel and Juvia. They knew two different sides of hers because the third remained a mystery even to them.

Natsu unfortunately happened to meet the shadiest out of all her identities which meant that she had to keep a distance. She couldn't risk being caught simply because she was being careless. He had managed to make her lower her guard and that made her a bit weary but she thought this would be the perfect opportunity to study someone with a personality like his.

"We're here." Natsu stopped and looked back at Lucy.

"What is this place?" Lucy looked around and was confused once again.

 _Has he taken me to a bar?_ The place had this rustic atmosphere to it. There were many wooden tables around the room and there seemed to be a second floor that was probably off limits because she couldn't find the entrance to it.

She looked at Natsu waiting for him to explain where they were. He had sat down at a stool at the bar and was looking strangely at Lucy. She could not tell if he was trying to think about what he wanted to say or if he just didn't want to answer her.

"Ya know, I still don't know what ya look like, Star."

"That's not relevant. We can have a conversation without you looking at me."

"It'd be nice though. You can see what I look like and it's not fair that I don't get to see you."

"Is that why you brought me here? To interrogate me behind closed doors."

"No, that would be weird."

"Then why?"

He sighed and got up from the stool he had been sitting on. "I brought ya here to show ya where I spend a lotta my time. I guess I kinda do work here but it doesn't feel like a job."

"If you get paid for doing things here then it's a job, Natsu."

"It's different though. I've had a job before and it doesn't feel the same. To me this place is like a second home. Does your job feel that way too?"

Lucy didn't feel at home anywhere except her apartment and even then she did not feel entirely comfortable living there. There was no way that her night job made her feel comfortable at all. She hated that job as much as Juvia did but that was one of the many things that they had to sacrifice in order to survive.

Her day jobs weren't as bad though. She liked working with Yukino although she had the sneaking suspicion that her friend was catching on to the fact that she was hiding something. Lucy had found out that her boss was a mage who was a member in Lumia Scale. Ever since then she had tried to be less open about what she has done or where she has been around her.

Yukino has probably noticed that she has been more estranged. She more Lucy became distant, the more she had tried to make her open up. It made Lucy a bit uncomfortable but she couldn't tell if she was doing it out of concern or out of the necessity to learn as much information as she could.

"No it doesn't."

"So only guilds feel that way?"

Lucy froze. Natsu is part of a guild which means the she had just stepped into one. She cursed herself silently and reminded herself that she knew that it was a possibility that he was a magic-user. It would definitely explain why he had been in a fight with that red-haired girl that she scared away.

A part of her had hoped that he wasn't a mage.

No. It wasn't a part of her. It was ever fiber in her being.

"I guess so."

"Here work isn't just a job. The others who fight along side me everyday aren't just my coworkers; they're family."

"I'm happy for you then. It's not everyday you find the perfect place to fit in."

Natsu stood next to Lucy rubbing his chin. "Ya know you could always join our guild."

She didn't know how to respond. In fact, she didn't want to respond at all. _Damn wizards and their impulsive ways._ Lucy could not bring herself to say that she hated magic-users because even she thought that that was an exaggeration. But she definitely had a distaste for them and she refused to let anyone know about her history with them.

Only five people knew. She's distant from three of them and hasn't seen them in years. She despises one of them because they stand for the opposite of what she herself does. The first person who knew all about her past when she was little had passed away. Besides them no one knew. Not even Juvia, Gajeel or the kids.

Lucy knew she had to refuse his offer. She couldn't. She just couldn't.

"If only I could."

"Of course you can! You're a mage, right?"

"When did I ever do or say anything to imply that I were one?"

"You probably scared Flare away with yer magic."

"A gun is just as effective." Lucy rolled her eyes knowing that he wouldn't be able to see the evident amount of annoyance she felt.

"Bisca and Alzack both have magic where they use guns. You could have that power too."

"What if I don't use magical powers? What if I don't have any? What happens then?"

"Then we teach you how to use magic."

"You're born with the ability to use magic and taught how to control it. You can't teach someone to randomly inherit genes that would allow them to even be a wizard."

Natsu refused to back down from his suggestion. "I'd still find a place for you in the guild."

"Even if I were powerless?"

"Yup." He answered confidently.

"Even if I were to be completely useless?"

He raised an eyebrow and pointed at her. "Don't say you ever say that. You will never be useless."

"How wasteful. How could you allow people to join if they don't have what they need to defend themselves?"

He frowned, "There's a lot more to guilds than just being the strongest. We don't care about whether you're the best, what matters is that we stick together and support each other the best that we can."

"That's… admirable."

"I know that we can protect you."

"I don't think you can."

"Why not?"

In her head, she agonizingly answered _How can you protect me from everything that from everything that is out to destroy me if you can't protect me from myself?_ She couldn't bring herself to say what she had thought out loud but she unconsciously blurted out another response that was probably just as bad. Perhaps it was even worse.

"Because I won't let you."


	5. Breaking Boundaries

_Hello readers, it's Ella!_

 _I cannot believe that I have over 580 reads. That is truly incredible. THANK YOU sooooo much for this._

 _I'm still slowly dying from exams plus I'm sick and I'm uncontrollably coughing all day which has slowed my ability to write as much as I can._

 _This chapter is mediocre at best and I will probably rewrite this chapter when I feel better._

 _Also the chapters are still unedited so sorry if there are errors! I will go back and fix them when I have the chance._

 _ **Summary of last chapter:**_

 _\- Met Gajeel and his relationship with Romeo and Wendy_

 _\- A bit of insight in the relationship between Lucy, Gajeel and Juvia._

 _\- A bit of explanation as to what the trio have been up to._

 _\- Natsu and Lucy meet once again._

 _\- Awkward Nalu moments xD_

 _\- Natsu whisks Lucy away and takes her to the guild_

 _\- Lucy doesn't know where she is_

 _\- More Nalu moments + relationship progress_

 _\- Insight of Lucy's morals, duties and feelings towards people._

 _\- D: that ending hurt my own heart too *cringes*_

 _Anyways, without future or do here is the story._

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Breaking Boundaries**

* * *

Natsu stared at Lucy. She couldn't read his face and she instantly regretted saying anything at all. Lucy didn't want to sound rude but she was afraid that she had either made him angry or made him concerned. _You just had to open your big mouth, Lucy._

In order to break the awkward silence that loomed over both of them, she decided she should be the one to speak up.

"Uhm, I think it's best if I leave. It's getting late and I need to go work while I still can."

Natsu showed no indication of responding to her comment and she began backing away slowly. He still made no attempt to stop her and so she abruptly turned around, walked towards the door and placed her hand on the door handle.

She was about to open the door when he suddenly appeared next to her and placed his hand on hers. She could sense that he didn't want her to leave.

"I'd still try and protect you even if you don't want me to."

Lucy didn't respond and her eyes widened as she studied their hands. It was infuriating to her that he was able to make her speechless so easily. She became even more astounded at the fact that he had been able to make her feel so confused with how she should respond so many times in the past two days.

"Why don't you want me to protect ya? Why don't ya want me to help ya?" He continued questioning her.

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Lucy sighed.

"Why do ya keep avoiding mine?"

"Please, I don't want to talk about this. Can we talk about something else?"

He went silent again which made her feel nervous. Again, he had stopped talking and she didn't know what was going through his mind.

"I'll stop for now if you promise to let me help."

"I can't do that."

"Yes you can."

"No…I just… can't. I can't put you in a position like that."

He took his free hand and she felt a small squeeze on her shoulder.

"I don't mind at all."

"But-" Lucy was about to arguing with him but he cut her off.

"How 'bout we make a deal? You got my back 'n I got yours."

Lucy laughed, "You don't even know me. How can you trust a stranger?"

"You're not a stranger, you're Star."

She was stunned by his comment and turned around to face him as he released his hold on her hand and shoulder. "I could be a really scary monster out to get you."

"Oh no! Don't hurt me." He feigned fear and dramatically shook his hands in fear.

She laughed and poked his chest. "I suggest you run."

"I wouldn't leave you behind." He paused, and had a pensive look his on face. "I think I'd this story about us would be better if it were a dragon and a princess instead of a monster."

"A story with a fierce, strong dragon protecting a feisty, independent princess." Lucy suggested.

"Yeah! That sounds so cool."

"Are you the princess?" She teased.

"I think that's for someone who's much prettier than me."

"Don't worry, you can always try and be a pretty, pretty princess."

"But I wanna be a badass dragon."

"A dragon sounds much more fitting for me than a princess."

"Well I think you're a princess not because you need to be saved but because you were able to stand alone for so long and still be strong. Just because you're a princess doesn't mean that you're weak and can't get things done yourself."

Lucy gave him a small smile and softly responded to his heartfelt comment about her. "Oh, uh… thank you. And I think that a dragon is fitting for someone who stands up strongly for what they believe in and his everything in their will power to protect the people and things they care about."

He smiled shyly, "I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me so far."

She laughed and shook her head. "I try to be as honest as possible."

"An honest Star is a very happy Star and you're much nicer when you aren't keeping things from me. Will ya tell me other things 'bout you?"

"Don't push your luck, Natsu."

"A person's gotta try right? You don't get anywhere in life if you don't take chances."

Lucy looked at him, a bit taken aback by his wisdom. "Yes, taking chances is one way to change your life for better or for worse."

He looked at her with a pensive look on his face and studied her. She still kept her physical appearance hidden from him but she seemed to be more comfortable around him than she had been previously. He expected that by now she would have run away into the darkness of the night keeping her secrets locked away to prevent them from escaping her lips.

Natsu knew that she was adamant about keeping their conversations as superficial as possible. He knew that even though it confused him and sometimes frustrated him it was not an unexpected reaction. After all, he was still practically a stranger to her and he didn't even know her name.

Her responses to his more serious questions worried him a bit. There was far more to her than met the eye and he had this newfound feeling that he wanted to know more about her. Normally he wouldn't care if someone told him that they were not interested in being close but he just had to get to know _her_.

In his mind he secretly wished that their fateful encounter was a moment that would affect him in a positive way. He wanted this to be for the better. He wanted for everything to work out and for her to open up about herself to him.

"Yeah, for better or for worse, Star."

She became silent and Natsu guessed that she was probably thinking about something. He thought that was strange but oddly enough he found it so be endearing. He could only imagine the look that she had on her face underneath the hood of her cloak.

"Ya know, I like this you." He blurted out.

Lucy look a step back and stared at him. It was rare when she wouldn't be on guard afraid that she was going to seen by the wrong person. But here she was, slowly unraveling her goofy self to him in bits and pieces without as much resistance as she would normally give.

She was practically always on edge which gave her no time to think about relaxing or taking a long needed break. She appreciated that he was able to get her to make her momentarily forget about many of her worries and thanked him in her mind. It would have been something she would have said out loud however she thought it would have been very awkward.

She enjoyed those moments where she didn't have to put on a façade to prevent her from being an open book. _I like this me too_. She thought to herself because there was no way that she was going to say it out loud. Instead, she thought it was best to respond differently.

"At least I know that you don't hate me for being such an asshole."

"Never thought ya were one."

"That's nice to know."

Natsu smiled shyly one again. "So how about my offer?"

"Huh?"

"You protect me and I protect you." He kindly reminded her of what he had proposed earlier.

Lucy knew that it would get her in a load of trouble if she went behind her accomplices' backs and made a deal with a stranger. She knew that it was forbidden to turn to someone else who wasn't involved for help. Her mind told her no but her heart screamed yes. She knew that she shouldn't do this but frankly, she realized that she felt rebellious and without hesitation she answered him.

"You've got yourself a deal, Natsu." She held out her hand and he smiled at her, more brightly than he ever had before and shook her hand firmly. Who knew that this agreement would be the start of an adventure that would alter the fate of not only everyone in Magnolia but all of those whom are magic users.

* * *

"Where the hell have you been, bunny girl?" Gajeel asked impatiently as he paced around the living room in the apartment.

Lucy had returned very early in the morning after having hung out with Natsu all night long. She never made it to her night shift because she had been preoccupied by reasons unknown to Gajeel and Juvia.

"I got caught up with someone. I should told you guys before I ran off and it slipped my mind."

"Juvia is glad that Lucy is okay. Juvia thought that something bad had happened to Lucy and Juvia would have never forgiven herself for leaving Lucy alone." Juvia sobbed while hugging Lucy tightly.

"I'm alright J so don't beat yourself up over it." Lucy soothingly patted Juvia's head to help her calm down.

Gajeel interrupted the girl's bonding time to lecture Lucy on what she had done. "Listen, we're not your babysitters and don't have to explain your life story to us but next time give us a heads up before bolting on us. I almost sent a letter to master to tell him that you had vanished."

"You shouldn't have even thought about resorting to that! That's only something we will do for emergencies." Lucy angrily responded.

"What else was I supposed to do? How were we supposed to know that nothing bad happened to you? That those Fairy Tail punks didn't get to you?"

"You should have given me the benefit of the doubt."

"And risk getting you kidnapped or even possibly killed? No way, we couldn't risk it."

"One person is worth losing if that means that you save the rest of the group from being dragged down with them."

"So if it were me or Juvia out there about to be killed you wouldn't help us?"

"I never said that."

"Sure as hell sounds like you did."

"I'd go out there and find you myself. I'd be able to locate you before anything bad would happen."

"That's a hell lot of self confidence you have there, Lucy. Hope you realize that not everyone has the ability to go to people in the blink of an eye. You can save us but it's harder for us to try and rescue you than you trying to rescue us. We can't do everything as perfectly as you can."

"I don't do things perfectly I do them accurately because I practiced. Instead of complaining about how I am more skilled than you in other areas try and figure out how to make it work with the things that you're better at than me."

"Juvia wants Gajeel and Lucy to stop fighting! We're friends and friends don't fight." Juvia sobbed even louder into Lucy's shoulder.

Gajeel rolled his eyes and Lucy sighed. It was best if they stopped arguing about something that was probably going to get nowhere. They were both too stubborn to admit that the other was right and now was not the time to discuss how to maximize skills they couldn't fix over night.

Lucy subtly tried changing the topic. "Anyways, what about the people the counsel hired to capture us? Do you know specifically who they are?"

"From what our sources could figure out they think that there is possibly a group of five people from Fairy Tail and one from Lumia Scale."

"So we have six people hunting us down. We need to be more careful when it comes time to infiltrate another building because they're probably sending decent fighters to stop us."

"Juvia was told that we have a mission by the master and Juvia thinks that they will be there too." Juvia released Lucy from the hug and stood up straight.

"When and where?" Gajeel raised his eyebrow.

"Tonight at Nifil Headquarters."

"Oh great, we're going after a big fish and they couldn't give us more time to come up with a plan." Gajeel groaned.

"Juvia will find someone to look after Romeo and Wendy." Juvia rushed out of the room to begin asking neighbors if they were willing to watch them while they would be gone.

"It's going to be a long night." Lucy looked out the window and wondered what Natsu was going to do in the night now that she was going to be preoccupied with a mission that will put her intelligence and stealth to the test.

* * *

Natsu walked into the guild with a giant grin on his face. His night had been a success and he had been able to find Star and show her one of the places which he held dear. He couldn't wait to meet her again tonight because he hoped that he would be able to learn more about her.

"Natsu move yer ass and go see Master Makarov. He's been waitin' for ya."

He snapped out of his daze and realized that Cana was yelling at him to hurry up. He thanked her and ran up the stairs to the second floor and went into the room that was reserved for the most private matters pertaining to the guild.

When he opened the door, he spotted Mira, Levy, Erza, and Gray standing around the room and Master Makarov sitting on his big comfy chair at his desk. The atmosphere seemed a bit tense and he understood that this was a serious matter and that it may not be the best time to make jokes or insult Gray.

"Oi, Gramps. Ya needed to talk to me?" Natsu walked up to the master's desk and stopped in place a couple feet away from it.

Master Makarov was a very short old man with a comically large mustache. He usually would wear all orange and would wear a funny hat that looked like a jester's hat. He was a goofy person who has been in charge of the guild for as long as he could remember. He was viewed as a friend or parental figure rather than a boss to the whole guild.

It was ironic how even though their master was extremely lenient with them they always managed to get him in trouble with the counsel for causing a large amount of damage to near by towns. Mirajane was his right hand woman in times like those as she managed to keep him updated on most issues and updated the job board daily.

She was also the one who would scare master into being serious and reminded him that if he didn't do his job that she would call his grandson to take his place. Master wouldn't dare let Laxus step back into the guild and so that threat managed to whip him back into shape. Today happened to be one of those days where it seemed that master was acting serious because of his own volition which was probably scarier than when master is forced to be serious.

"Natsu, my boy. Yes, I called you because I wanted to ask you an important question." Makarov smiled at him.

"I'm listenin'."

"I waited until you got here to explain why I called the five of you here. I didn't want to take up this task but my hand was forced to comply and now I must ask of you to do a mission that will prove to be difficult. I wouldn't go as far as to say that you're life is at stake however we do not know exactly what we are dealing with so I can't make any promises. The counsel has asked us to look into the Phantom Disappearances. You've heard of them, no?"

Levy nodded and pulled out a newspaper that she had conveniently had in her bag. "I've been reading about the Phantom Disappearances ever since the local bakery that I go to had been robbed. Looks like they are professionals because they get in and get out without a trace."

Mira walked over to Levy and began reading the story about the case. "Do they know how many people are involved?"

"Unfortunately they don't Mirajane. This means that we don't have much to go on and we're expected to solve this issue without much of a hassle." Makarov responded.

"What exactly is it that they do? Assuming that there is more than one person involved, how do they manage to not leave any evidence behind of who they are?" Gray questioned the group.

"They must have stolen something valuable but not something that everyone would have known about. It was probably done in the middle of the night and they snuck in when no one was there to stop them. Those cowards will pay for the crimes they have committed." Erza raised her voice and was dead set on making sure that justice would be served.

Levy frowned and scanned the article over and over again. "That's weird."

Natsu looked at Levy and raised an eyebrow. "What's weird?"

"I'm looking through this story and I remember reading the police report and now that I think about it they were never actually accused of any crime. How can you rob someone and not be on a wanted list of any sorts if you're supposedly a criminal?"

Mira looked at the newspaper again. "Levy's right. Something is not adding up. This doesn't even say what exactly was stolen from the places they have robbed. You would think that they'd mention what was being taken so that the people in Magnolia would be more careful about leaving certain items lying around."

"Maybe they forgot to say it because it was obvious what they were gunna get arrested for and that it didn't matter what they took." Natsu suggested.

Makarov rubbed his chin. "Or maybe they aren't telling us the whole story. The counsel usually handles matters such as this one their own and I found it awfully suspicious when they requested our help. I'm inclined to think that this is going to be dangerous than I originally thought."

Erza looked at Makarov. "I have a feeling that the counsel doesn't want us to simply investigate the matter. Even for them it seems too tame of a decision to make. What is it that they truly want us to do, master?"

"They want those responsible to be apprehended and turned over to counsel without making any commotion about it. In other words, we don't want word to get out that we're involved."

Gray scratched his head. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"As do I. " Agreed Erza.

"So where should we start?" Levy took the newspaper, folded it and placed it neatly back into her bag.

"Oh I almost forgot!" Makarov's eyes widened and he suddenly began looking through a drawer in his desk. He finally found what he had been looking for and pulled out a letter that had the crest of the fairy counsel on the back. He opened the letter and began reading the contents of the letter.

"Looks like the only hint the counsel gave us is that there's word that they will try and rob Nifil Corporation's building near central square tonight." Makarov said with a hint of hope in his voice.

"Guess we're gunna be busy tonight trying to catch people whose identities we don't even know."

Makarov sighed and placed the letter down. "Good luck, kids. Remember to be careful out there and no matter what happens I want you to place your safety as your number one priority."

The five guild members nodded and said their goodbyes to their master. They were going to get ready to investigate a number of unknown suspects but without knowing what they were up against this was going to be prove to be a difficult task.

Natsu just hoped that everything was going to turn out okay and that they would be able to uncover the truth without needing to take extreme measures. He was never one to go easy on someone in a fight but he didn't realize that his time with Lucy was slowly changing him into acting more reasonably than he would of before. His hopes that she was going to affect him for the better were starting to take effect and it will be more valuable as time goes on and he confronts the one person that would make him question everything he stands for.


	6. Red Wine

_Hello readers, it's Ella! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT, FAVORITES, FOLLOWS AND REVIEWS. ILY ALL~_

 _There's only seven more school days left for me and then I can write fanfiction and listen to music all I want for all summer. ~_

 _Sorry I haven't been writing as much lately, I still have final exams. This chapter gives a lot of background information and insight into the situation in Fiore and on the case itself. Plus, there's new characters._

 _ **I REALLY WANT TO START WRITING FLUFF BUT ALAS, I can't.** **Yet**. ;)_

 _Sorry if there are errors! I will go back and edit previous chapters when I'm finally on summer break._

 ** _Quick summary of last chapter:_**

 _\- Natsu and Lucy made a promise to protect each other._

 _\- Oooo dragon and princess references_

 _\- Gajeel and Lucy fight because life. (Poor Juvia)_

 _\- Gajeel, Juvia and Lucy's boss gives them a mission_

 _\- Ayeeee Makarov_

 _\- Levy, Erza, Gray, Mira and Natsu are assigned to capture those responsible_

 _\- ^^ for the Phantom Disappearances_

 _\- They get a mission at the same place as Gajeel, Juvia and Lucy. (0.0)_

 _Anyways, lets further or do here is the story._

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Red Wine**

* * *

"Uh, I think I forgot my map of the building at the guild." Natsu fumbled around trying to make sure that he hadn't placed it in one of his pockets by accident.

"Good going, flame brain. You already screwed up part of the mission." Gray rolled his eyes at Natsu's carelessness.

"Watcha say to me ice princess? Ya wanna fight me right now!"

"Ice princess? You little— "

Erza turned around and scowled at the bickering boys. "Be quiet both of you or I'll make sure that you won't be able to talk for days. Don't you dare test my patience."

"Yes, ma'am." Gray and Natsu responded in unison both with the fear that Erza was going to punish them after the mission tonight was over.

"That's the building over there." Mira pointed at the building that was a few complexes down from where they were currently standing.

It was a five floor building that looks recently built. Word has it that there were major problems in trying to settle whether or not it was going to be developed. The town's counsel was firm in their stance that they would not let Nifil Corporation from constructing more factories or facilities around Magnolia. However, it surprised the town when they were suddenly given the okay to go ahead and build on the plot of land.

Since it was recently built, the building stuck out like a sore thumb. It heavily contrasted the much older looking houses and shops that surrounded it and so it definitely was not hard to find. The monstrosity loomed over the various houses being twice the size of most of them.

Nifil Corporation was known for buying, selling and trading alcohol around all of Fiore. Magnolia had recently become their main source of income because of the sudden increase of new inhabitants flooding in from the neighboring towns. Supplies were scarce in many parts of Fiore however Magnolia seemed to be one of the few towns that remained fully functioning with an abundance of essential products and materials.

This would also explain the boom in the number of people found in the streets during the night partying their hearts out. As sad as it sounded, the townspeople knew that that was where people chose to drown their sorrows with alcohol and insistent dancing. It was a place where the worries that encircled the adults could be put aside or drowned out.

In turn, businesses in town gained twice the amount of customers than they had before. Business owners and workers there were forced to work longer shifts and hire more people to handle the masses. Even though there was a major economic crisis that was affecting millions around Fiore, it did not stop the citizens of Magnolia from indulging in frivolous and lavish activities.

Guilds were also hit hard with the lack of essentials in many parts of the country. Although these mages were well taken care of and supplied with items they both needed and wanted, they could not escape the consequences of this recession. Crime rate increased which meant that more mages needed to take up jobs to help stop as many criminals as they could.

The Phantom Disappearances were just the cream of the cake in terms of the number of cases of people robbing others. What made this series of robberies stand out from the rest was the fact that no one knows what they are after and how many people are involved. In other cases, the authorities had been able to say with certainty that they had been able to identify those responsible but there are no leads in the Phantom Disappearances.

The Rune Guards have questioned many suspects however they were soon ruled out after interrogation. Normally this would create panic for the citizens but because they've been able to get in and get out and not take things such as money or secret recipes, the public simply brushed off this threat. Without having many people take an interest in the disappearances the case soon went cold.

The Wizard Counsel took a sudden interest in the group of unknown robbers who have discretely been terrorizing the town. It wasn't known if those responsible are regular townspeople or if they are mages gone rogue. If it so happens to not be magic users, then the Wizard Counsel would not have jurisdiction in the matter and would be forced to drop the case.

This meant that Levy, Mira, Natsu, Gray and Erza weren't entirely sure as to how to take down the criminals. If they were magic users, then it would be fine to have an outright brawl with them but if they weren't then the mages would have to be careful to not hurt them when apprehending them. The only way to know for certain who they were up against was to see how they fight back to try to escape.

"Okay so here's the layout of the building." Levy pulled out a blueprint of the building that she had obtained from the town's records earlier.

"There are five floors so to cover the most ground we need to each take a floor and guard it." Levy studied the blueprints and pointed to the different floors.

Mira raised an eyebrow. "Is it the best idea to split up if we don't know how dangerous these people are?"

Gray leaned against the wall. "We have no idea of knowing what floor they'll be on 'cause we don't know what they're after."

"Not knowing where they'll attack gets me all fired up!" Natsu practiced his hand-to-hand combat by swinging at an imaginary person right in front of him.

Erza looked at Natsu with a serious look on her face. "Natsu, you better stay on your guard and don't mess around in there. The moment you don't take this mission seriously I will be forced to remember to punish you in front of the whole guild tomorrow."

Natsu gulped and nodded, agreeing to obey Erza because he was way too scared to even dare and go against her word. He may be clueless when it came to how to act in front of others but he knew when it was best to just stay quiet and listen to what he was being told.

"I'll take the first floor, Mira the second, Gray the third, Erza the fourth, and Natsu the fifth." Levy nodded thoughtfully and placed the blueprints in her trusty bag.

Erza got prepared to climb up the escape ladder on the side of the building. "Keep your eyes open for suspicious activity."

Natsu scratched his head in confusion. "What exactly are we keepin' our eyes open for?"

"At this point, I think we should just be prepared for anything." Suggested Mira as the five of them split up to guard their assigned floors for the next couple hours.

* * *

"Master, the group from Fairy Tail has arrived at the scene." The servant walked up to the man sitting in a chair near the giant windows in the dark room.

The mysterious man grinned mischievously at his servant. "Excellent, they're right on time."

"Should we inform the Arcanes?"

"No, this is a test of how well they can avoid the annoying fairies. Let's see how they handle this situation."

"And if they don't make it?"

"Then we send out the others. We have plenty that are eager to be in their position so fear not. We would hardly have a shortage of manpower." The man said nonchalantly as he signaled another servant to get him a glass of wine.

"But sir, they are our best trained members. If we lose them then we'll be in trouble."

"If we lose them then we didn't train them hard enough and we will have to correct what we did wrong with the training of the new recruits." The other servant came back with the glass of wine his master had asked for and handed it to him.

"Five of them have been training with you ever since they were little kids. The only one that I thought was still a bit iffy was the new girl."

"Then this test is mainly for her. Let's see if she truly will give up the morals she stands for in order to support this cause. I still find it hard to believe that she wouldn't have a problem with any of this." The man took a swig of his glass of wine and began impatiently tapping his fingers on the armrest of the chair.

"She isn't an impressionable girl."

"Which is exactly why she must prove her loyalty."

"If she fails the loyalty test then what will we do with her?"

"We get rid of her, simple as that. I'm in no position to house people who won't respect me, the great and powerful master. It would be a personal attack on me if one of my own were to be defeated by the likes of the fairies. Do you realize how embarrassing that would be? It would destroy my reputation and that bastard, Makarov, will once again be praised."

The man's grip on the glass tightened. "I should be the one to get recognized as being the leader of the most powerful guild in existence! I use both mages and regular people to my advantage and I've succeeded so far. I'd be dammed if I get humiliated by the counsel because of Makarov."

"He will pay for everything he has done to me. He has taken away the most important things away from me like my status, wealth and influence. It's time for him to feel the humiliation that he made me feel when he had the audacity to brag about his members in front of our colleagues. He will suffer just as I did and I'll begin by hurting the thing he scares about most: his precious children from his guild." The man angrily vowed to get revenge as the glass of wine shattered from his tight grip and the red wine dripped down his hands like blood off of a killer's hand.

* * *

Lucy peeked her head around the corner of the hallway before she decided it was safe to move on. They had infiltrated the building minutes prior and each of them were on different floors. They didn't know which floor the information was on and so they thought it would be best to split up and search floor by floor. The flaw in that plan was that now it would be harder to fend off anyone who catches them in the midst of finding the papers.

They knew that they had to be extra careful because there would be mages on guard roaming the hallways. It frustrated Lucy that yet again she had to encounter mages in a situation where it could prove to be very inconvenient. She wasn't entirely sure what they were up against which caused her to be more on edge.

Out of the entire group that goes around looking for the information, the only one with experience handling the Fairy Tail's mages is Gajeel. He hasn't spoken about when or even how he has encountered them but whenever they are brought up in conversation he visibly becomes more tense. He is one of the most intimidating people Lucy knows and it worries her that they manage to make him lose his cool.

Lucy moved along the halls as quietly as possible to listen for any movement that wasn't her own. In order to track the item, they were looking for each group member had a device build by Lucy that used sonar which somehow worked because of the lacrima it contained.

Unfortunately, she was still working on her engineering skills so her device wasn't exactly accurate. It was better than nothing at least and it gave the general direction of where it was located.

She checked the device to see if she was nearby. The dot was around thirty feet from where she was. She was so close but she had to careful with where she was going. Lucy came across a giant door with inscribed symbols that beautifully adorned it and decided that she would take a chance and explore this room.

She waved her hand over the door handle and then slowly opened the door. The room looked like an office that belonged to one of the workers of the company. It wasn't the CEO's room because that room is located on the fourth floor which she wasn't on.

The room had two different cabinets and she looked through both of them. It was annoying that both of them were full of tons and tons of papers pertaining to the company's expenses. Next she tried to search through the desk that was littered with more unorganized papers and junk. She grew more and more frustrated with the disorganization because it was making her job ten times harder.

 _If I were hiding papers were would I hide them?_ Lucy looked over to see if anything stood out. And then she had a sudden realization. _A safe._ She turned around and looked in the area near the desk. Sure enough, there was a hidden safe underneath the window sill. Lucy smiled to herself because she was proud of herself for finding it.

Without much trouble she was able to open the safe and looked through its contents. Underneath a loaded gun there was a stack of papers. She rummaged through the papers until she found the one she was looking for. She folded it and shoved the paper in her pocket quickly. Before she closed the safe she noticed that there was also a stack of money tucked away in the corner.

Her eyes widened and picked up money while carefully inspecting it. She counted how much she had in her hands. She estimated that there was around seven hundred thousand jewels which was a huge load of money compared to how much she makes per month. Lucy's monthly rent was seventy thousand jewels and it was another nine thousand jewels to food and other basic necessities weekly. This would definitely help her out with taking care of Romeo and Wendy.

Lucy frowned and looked at the money in her hands. This would make things so much easier for her and yet she was still very hesitant to take it. She took the wad of jewels and placed in back into the safe and closed it. _I'm a bad person alright but even I have my limits._

She stood up and was ready to press a button on her gadget to signal the rest of them to get out of here but she froze. Lucy was absolutely sure that she made hardly any noise when she was sneaking around in the hallway but there someone was, standing in the doorway blocking her exit.

"Put back whatever you stole you hooligan."

It was a woman with beautiful and long red hair that was heavily suited with armor and an frightening look on her face. Lucy did not move from where she was and began weighing her options of how to escape. Her defiance of the woman's request angered the woman more than she had been before.

"How dare you ignore my orders. You shall pay for not heeding to my request."

The woman lunged at Lucy pushing her up against the wall. She had seemed satisfying that she was able to pin her target swiftly but she underestimated the mysterious figure. Lucy took the opportunity of her lowering her guard to kick under the woman's legs, knocking her off her feet. Lucy stumbled to the door and ran out into the hallway.

She clicked the button on her device to signal her comrades that their mission had been compromised. Hopefully her partners had better luck evading the mages than herself and she continued running down the hallway looking her an exit. Behind her, the red-haired woman was following in hot pursuit refusing to let their only lead escape.

The woman yelled something incoherently out loud and weapons randomly appeared around her. From what Lucy could tell, they were melee weapons which meant that if she kept her distance then the furious woman could not harm her. She thought she had a bit of protection however the enraged woman began throwing swords at Lucy that were barely missing her. _Guess they're not melee weapons anymore._

Lucy skillfully avoided the bombardment of weapons thrown at her and turned a corner in an attempt to lose her. Instead of gaining an advantage over her, she heard a another series of footsteps coming from behind her. It seemed that another person had joined the chase which made Lucy curse her luck.

"Salamander, they went this way!" The woman yelled furiously.

"Aye, aye Titania."

Titania? _The Titania?_ The woman that many of the strongest mages and guilds are terrified of was chasing after Lucy. It horrified her how she literally just tripped one of the most notorious women of all of Fiore and even had the nerve to run away from her. Although it was probably quite stupid of her to make enemies with someone so powerful it gave her a surge of adrenaline. That was probably what was keeping her from running slow enough to where they would be able to catch her.

On one hand, she had an enraged woman that is type of wizard that is insanely strong. On the other hand, she had the man named Salamander after her too. She had heard the name before from Gajeel a couple weeks back. They had been discussing a plan to infiltrate a restaurant of a wealthy business man on the other side of town when he accidentally brought it up.

Gajeel had told Juvia and Lucy that this punk had confronted him while he was interrogating a boy who possibly had been an eye witness to a break in they had done. He went on and on about how the person that was likely around the same age as him had gotten on his very last nerves. Salamander had tried to lecture him on why he should pick on someone his own size and not an innocent kid.

Gajeel became so frustrated that he had pushed Salamander in the face and felt extremely satisfied. Salamander did not hold back after Gajeel had swung first and they began fighting each other in the middle of the street in broad daylight. They only stopped when one of the Salamander's friends stopped the battle and pulled the man away.

He was quite surprised at how strong the man was considering that the Salamander was only half his size. Although it was refreshing to be in a fight with someone of equal strength, he could not shake the feeling that if the battle continued he might have lost and it ha been bothering him ever since.

Maybe that had been the reason why Gajeel had been so adamant about avoiding guild members from Fairy Tail at all costs. He would be able to tell if Salamander was a part of Fairy Tail by looking at his crest if it were in a visible place. Lucy herself did not know what the crest for Fairy Tail looked like and she would have to remember to ask Gajeel or master about it.

Even with all the warnings that was given to her, here she was running away from two strong Fairy Tail mages whom she couldn't seem to shake off her tail. Lucy resorted to drastic measures and knew that her only chance to escape was to make a rather dramatic exit which she wanted to avoid but knew that she had no other option.

Lucy turned another corner and ran into the nearest door. She propped a chair against the door so that it would jam the door if someone were to try and open it from the other side. She quickly made her way to the window and opened it because breaking it would cause more problems. She stood on the windowsill and looked towards the door as the red-haired woman burst in.

The woman pointed her sword towards Lucy and slowly made her way towards her. "Give it up, stranger. There's nowhere to run to."

Lucy stared at her and Titania once again yelled at her to try to make her speak. "Why are you doing this? Justice will prevail and those who have committed transgressions against the law shall pay and be arrested for their crimes."

"If justice was truly on the people's side then the Wizard Counsel would have paid a long time ago. We're not the only ones who aren't innocent in this town." And with that Lucy jumped out the window.

Titania ran to the window ready to leap after her and realized that the person had vanished. The rest of the group from Fairy Tail ran into the room after hearing the commotion and stopped when they spotted Erza looking out the window in disbelief. That mysterious person had caught her off guard and managed to get the upper hand. That person made Erza follow her like they were having a wild goose chase. That person managed to get away without a trace. That person had earned something that few people received; Erza's respect.

* * *

The five mages that had been on the mission to investigate and apprehend those involved with the Phantom Disappearances had returned back to the guild. They were sitting at a table in the guild going over what had happened last night.

"It was a woman's voice." Erza recalled from the last time she saw the cloaked figure before they jumped out the window and vanished.

Gray turned to Erza in surprise. "So there was only one person?"

"She was the only one I encountered. I suppose there could have been more people but just not in that area."

"But it's strange that she would be alone if that were the case. If they knew what they were looking for then why wouldn't they go in as a group to go get it." Mira questioned as she took a sip of her coffee.

Levy raised an eyebrow. "Unless… they aren't sure where the thing they are looking for is either."

"They're quick at finding whatever they are looking for if they're just as lost as us." Natsu was shocked that they were probably not sure where they needed to look for the mystery items.

Erza furrowed her eyebrows and silently began trying to piece together what she saw last night. Levy looked at her with a worried expression after noticing that something was bothering her friend. "What's the matter, Erza? Something bothering you?"

Erza sighed and leaned back in her chair. She folded her arms and began recalling what she had witness the woman do. "While I was on guard looking around my floor for suspicious activity I couldn't detect that anything was out of place. I didn't even hear a single noise of a person sneaking around or owning doors.

Instead of just standing around and waiting for someone who most likely wasn't going to make themselves known I began checking all the rooms. I happened to open the room with the woman looking around for something. I didn't say anything because I wanted to observe what she was doing in case that they wouldn't reveal that later in questioning. She was going through a safe and she grabbed something that I couldn't tell what it was.

What is confusing me is that she had grabbed a stack of jewels that she could have easily taken but she didn't. She placed it back and she gave up the chance to get a substantial amount of money rather than steal it and use the money somewhere else."

Mira unconsciously started tapping her fingers on the table. "I wonder why people that have supposedly been robbed haven't told authorities what has been stolen. I mean, they obviously know that something of theirs is gone and yet no one has found it suspicious that they are super vague about what's been taken?"

Natsu looked at Mira, nodding in agreement. "Waddya think they're not tellin' us or the Rune Guards? 'Cause it's lookin' like the Phantom people aren't the only ones hidin' somethin'."

The group suddenly became aware of the possibility that there could be more to these robberies than simply having shop owners or companies being victims of these attacks. It made more sense as to why there were so many inconsistencies with those who were robbed not being able to describe the item stolen from them.

It would certainly cause a scandal if the reason that these unidentified robbers haven't been caught were indirectly being protected by the townspeople themselves. If this is the case, then they will seriously need to talk to Makarov about the further complication of the investigation.

They would also need to speak with the Wizard Counsel about human interference. It was one thing for a guild to be involved in a matter where mages for the cause of the problem but if it was non-magic users because in that case a majority of mages with a decent moral compass would object to harming them. Mages had an unfair advantage and if they use magic against someone that cannot then it would be quite shameful for the mage whom went too far. There were certain exceptions to this rule however it was rare for any circumstances to arise that merited a mage to forcibly attack anyone, especially if they cannot defend themselves.

"Do we know if she's a mage?" Gray asked while placing his hands behind his head.

Erza and Natsu looked at each other. Natsu decided he'd be the one to respond when he noticed the unreadable expression on her face. "Eh, well she didn't fight back with magic or anything. She just did a hell lot of runnin' and dodgin'."

"So we still don't know if we're dealing with a mage? Can we even go to the Wizard Counsel and tell them what we saw if we don't even know if they even have the right to control the investigation?" Mira asked, not being sure if it was the best decision to make.

A silence fell over the group as they suddenly questioned the very counsel that controls so many aspects of their lives. They had never put much attention to what those powerful mages were up to because it didn't interest any of them at all. The only times that they would care would be when they'd sent a letter to their master forcing Makarov to either apologize, report to counsel or pay for any damage done by his members.

Typically, conversations involving the counsel would be complaints of how they blamed Fairy Tail's members for destroying towns while protecting them. Granted, it was true that they reeked havoc whenever they went but it was for the greater good. They may accidentally destroy a house or two but the townspeople praised them regardless of the damage for saving them.

Never had they believed that the Wizard Counsel was not the justice enforcing group of wizards that it was known for being. Perhaps they would have never basked in the glory of the elders but they never would have thought to turn their back on such an influential and important magical entity.

Erza broke the silence that had filled the area they were sitting. "You know how I said I knew she was a woman because I heard her voice?"

"Yeah?" Levy looked at Erza intently.

"It was because she said something to me." Erza began thinking back to what the woman had said to her.

Everyone's eyes widened and Mira, who was dying of curiosity, took it upon herself to integrate the redhead. "Wait what? What did she say to you? Was it something romantic? Was it a confession for the beginning of a forbidden romance between a justice-seeking mage and a criminal?"

"Don't get carried away, Mira." Gray calmly reminded Mirajane to keep her fantasies to a minimum while discussing important topics.

"Unfortunately, another one of your hopes to find a new couple to ship has been thwarted by reality." Erza said casually, not really thinking about how that could possibly make Mirajane feel.

"Don't rob me of my hopes! A girl can dream, can't she?" Mira protested, refusing to let her friends shoot down the possibility of romance for any of her friends.

"Yes, you can, but sometimes you get carried away." Levy smiled.

"Let's get back to talking about what Erza heard instead of crushing my dreams." Mira suggested to distract her friends from talking about her habits.

"Ah, yes." Erza frowned and the atmosphere became serious once again. "Before she jumped put the window—"

"WAIT, SHE _JUMPED_ OUT THE WINDOW?" Natsu leaned forward excitedly.

"Shut up, idiot. She's tryna tell us something!" Gray yelled at Natsu.

"But that's kinda cool." Natsu mumbled under his breath and then realization hit. "WAIT WHO YOU CALLIN' AN IDIOT, STRIPPER!"

Erza glared at the two boys who were about to fight for the third time today. "Be. QUIET."

Gray and Natsu yelped. "Yes, ma'am." They yelled simultaneously.

"Please continue Erza, it's important that you tell us." Levy softly encouraged her friend to keep going.

"Before she jumped out of the window and vanished she stopped to answer me. I told her that justice would prevail and will apprehend those who have violated the law and she stopped trying to escape for a couple seconds.

She turned to me and told me that if justice was prevailing then the Wizard Counsel would have paid for what they have done already. She escaped after comparing her criminal affairs to the actions of the counsel and that's it. No further explanation."

"She coulda been bluffing to try and get us to stand against someone who is feeling really bad." Gray wearily suggested.

"It's possible that she said that to throw us off." Levy sided with Gray.

"But what if she's actually warnin' us?" Natsu countered, which surprised the rest of the group.

"Why would she do that?" Mira questioned him.

"'Cause she has nothin' to gain. What's the point of tellin' us that the counsel is evil if it hurts them?" Natsu confidently responded.

"Well they'd gain from it if they are able to distract us for a bit so they can hit up more places while we're busy being suspicious of the counsel." Gray added.

"But they probably already know that even if we try and investigate we'll find nothin'. Plus it'd be kinda stupid to tell yer enemies somethin' that could possibly give 'em a clue." Natsu argued.

"Haven't you considered the possibly that she could be lying." Gray angrily hissed at Natsu.

"I think Natsu's right." Erza said unexpectedly.

"Natsu being right about something?" Gray said in disbelief.

Levy shook her head in bewilderment. "Why Erza?"

"I can't explain it. It's my gut feeling and I listen to my gut feeling." Erza clenched her fist and held it up to her chest proudly.

"See. Erza understands what I mean!" Natsu smiled in victory.

"I still don't see how they don't gain anything from us investigating the counsel." Gray groaned.

"Look. If the counsel is hiding something then the moment when find out what it is, we can't trust them anymore. If we don't trust them then the investigation might stop and they might be able to continue doing whatever they are doing. The counsel will be against us and they probably will find other guilds to join the hunt.

The counsel thinks that the five of us and the mage from Lumia Scale is enough to stop them. If they see that that isn't enough then they'll send more and it will be much harder to sneak around without getting caught. If that might happen, why would that person even say anything in the first place?"

Mira paused and furrowed her eyebrows. "If it isn't the organization who warned us then it might just be that person. Maybe they're trying to help us. I mean, you said it yourself Erza. She had the chance to steal so much and _chose_ not to."

"So…" Levy carefully thought over what she concluded about what Mira had said. "It's not the organization or whatever it is helping us. It's her."

"Exactly." Mira nodded in agreement.

Levy thoughtfully looked at the newspaper articles she held in her hands. "Hmm, I wonder why that girl helped us." And silence fell within the group against midst of the revelation that the mysterious figure they had run into the night before could possibly be the key to solving the case of the Phantom Disappearances.


	7. Close Encounter

_Hello, it's Ella! It's finally summer break which means I can focus more on writing! I haven't updated recently because I've actually been writing other parts of the story first because it just naturally comes to me that way._

 _Also my chapters are getting longer and longer AND I'VE BEGUN WRITING THE FLUFF SCENES. They will come in the next couple chapters, I promise!~_

 **Summary of last chapter:**

 _Basically Gray, Natsu, Erza, Levy and Mira were ninjas in the building of Nifil Corporation trying to catch the perps. Exposition. Background about the case. You meet red wine man and he's totally pissed at Makarov for being a popular kid in the mage world and wasted wine and a wine glass in the process. Lucy tried to be a ninja but Erza's ninja skills were better but Lucy got away from Erza and Natsu (But she doesn't know it was him). The Fairy Tail gang is questioning the Wizard Counsel because they are so suspicious.~ o.o_

 _Anyways, here's the story peeps._

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Close Encounter**

* * *

"Lucy, are you okay? You look really tired." Wendy frowned and walked over to Lucy who had been sitting on the couch rubbing her temples for the last ten minutes.

Wendy remembered waking up this morning, earlier than her best friend as usual, and got their clothes ready. She woke Romeo up in a pretty tame manner today because he seemed to be in a good mood again today. Usually, they would see their elder preparing breakfast or cleaning up the house but today she wasn't.

Lucy was sitting on the couch obviously bothered by something. Romeo and Wendy were worried because it had been years since they had seen her like this. Trying to help her cheer up, the kids sat down both sides of her and hugged her.

She was a bit surprised but nonetheless still accepting of the hugs she received from them. She had to admit, it cheered her up a bit that they wanted to try and comfort her but it bugged her that they had to see her like this when she would always try so hard not to break down in front of them.

The night before had affected Lucy more than she had expected. She wasn't sore from running or psychologically scarred that the red-haired woman had chucked swords at her. Instead, she felt emotionally drained. She was furious with herself for breaking character at what was possibly the worst time possible to do so.

Why had she decided to say anything? She knew that it was her job to do whatever her master says and stay quiet. It was forbidden to reveal any information to anyone besides those involved and to prove that rules need to be strictly enforced, their master demonstrated one of the forms of punishment you would receive if you dared challenge him.

She practically has her life on the line and yet she just couldn't resist speaking up for herself and her friends. Lucy was secretly hoping that this would change everything. Somehow, someway, or by some magical force it would make everything better but as much as she wanted to hold on to the hope that it will all turn out okay, she reminded herself that that kind of thing only happens in fairy tales.

The fact that she could not even tell the two little bundles of joy that she always tried to hard to protect who she really was would snap her back into reality. The tasks she is forced to do is a constant reminder of the choices she made to get there. Her jobs are a reminder that she could possibly be living a more stable lifestyle but that certain events in her past clouded her vision for her future self.

Lucy couldn't remember a single time where she had been truly content with every aspect of her life. There was just _always_ something wrong. Either she had no money, no family, no friends, no health or as she had come to realize recently, no happiness. She loved Romeo and Wendy, she really did. She cared for them as best as she could and always put in as much energy as she had so that they'd grow up with a happy childhood.

She loved them but it was all for _them_. Lucy was a generally selfless person opposed to the cold and harsh demeanor that she portrayed when she was trying to be inconspicuous. It hurt her when she couldn't help someone out or save them because she just wasn't allowed to. Those situations would make her feel horrible about the kind of person she had become.

It had been getting more and more difficult to tell apart her real self from her façade. If it was the real Lucy or the fake Lucy making these decisions she will never know. Her life was getting harder to manage and it was taking a toll on her.

Romeo and Wendy did not know much how her past but they prided themselves in knowing Lucy for who she is now. It would destroy Lucy if they found out about all the horrible things she had done and is currently involved in. There's no doubt on her mind that they would never look at her the same way ever again if that were to happen.

They were children but they were definitely old enough to understand the type of jobs and work she did. She wasn't proud of it, in fact, she hated the situation she was in with every fiber in her being. It was difficult to care of them let alone even take care of herself. She was a train wreck and they would be scared of her.

Although her life seemed to be slowly falling apart, she would always undoubtedly try her best to stay strong and be a good role model for Romeo and Wendy. She will be the first to admit that she knows she is not perfect and that certain aspects of her parenting style are not the best but she knows they will survive.

They will be able to fend for themselves when they are older so they do not need to depend on anyone else. It will be easy for them to keep moving forward and Lucy was trying to making sure that she could too despite all her struggling.

Lucy looked at the kids and gave them a small smile. "I'll make breakfast."

Romeo frowned at her. "No it's alright, Lucy. We can make our food today."

"No, no. It's alright, I'll make it." She got up and walked into the kitchen to make them food.

As soon as she was out of sight, Romeo and Wendy looked at each other with worried looks on their faces. They could tell that she was getting more stressed out with every passing day and even though Lucy denies it or brushes it off today was a perfect example of her not being herself. It worried them that she might be spiraling out of control and there is nothing they can really do about it.

They wanted to help but they just did not know how. It seemed that every attempt they made to comfort her ended in someone walking away from the conversation before anything of value could be said. It saddened them that they were seeing her for less time every day as the year went on.

She wasn't home that often anymore and they had begun to doubt that she had any free time or breaks. Working. She was always working. It did not used to be that way. There was a time when she was home immediately after they got back from school to when they went to sleep. Now the only times they see her are in the morning when she takes them to school, the brief time when she would come home late in the afternoon for a couple of minutes to change and head off to another job and on certain occasions when she wished them goodnight.

The kids would try and go see Lucy at work whenever they could because they wanted to make sure that she hadn't vanished. Sometimes when they'd show up she would be visibly tense. They would shrug it off and blame her being busy at work for her being wound up but that wasn't the case.

It would be incorrect to say that she wasn't stressed due to the multiple jobs she has but she did not want them to be wandering around places she was at in case one of her clients, coworkers or bosses decides to do something irrational or dangerous. People were out to get her so she tried her best to make sure that they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire if things went downhill.

Nevertheless, she hasn't turned them away. It hasn't gotten to the point where she has needed to do so. She would let them stay and enjoy her company while she quietly did her job. Thankfully, they only knew about the jobs that were safer to be at because if they knew about her night job it would cause many problems. The kids meant no harm so Lucy tried to act as if nothing is wrong but remained on guard, ready for the worst.

"Romeo! Wendy! The food is ready." Lucy shouted from the kitchen.

The kids headed to the kitchen and grabbed their food. She had made them some pancakes which looked absolutely delicious. They couldn't help themselves and they dived into the food almost immediately. After about ten minutes of eating, they hurried out the door so they wouldn't be late for school.

Lucy dropped them off at school how she normally did. The three of them had a friendly banter and said their goodbyes like always. As soon as Romeo and Wendy were out of sight, she headed to work at the restaurant. She walked to work slower than usual since she was dreading how horribly the day was going already only a few hours after the sun had come up.

* * *

Since it was a Friday afternoon it was extremely busy at the restaurant. It was rush hour and costumers were flooding in every minute. It was days like these were Lucy felt the most tired because she would run around trying to make sure everything was in order.

Yukino was also stressed out on days when it was busy because she wanted a good reputation for her restaurant. It was hard to open a new business in Fiore however she had chosen the perfect time to establish a business in an area that was demanding for more local businesses.

However, that did not exclude her restaurant from competing with other family restaurants or food chains. You needed to fight for every costumer you had otherwise they'd go to other places to find better service and food. Even though it was quite easy in Magnolia to capture the attention of dozens of new patrons, it was just as easy to make them disinterested.

Lucy's boss recently had to hire more workers because there simply weren't enough people in her restaurant to control the masses. It made the job a lot easier for sure. It may cost her a lot more money to pay them but it lessened to burden on her workers that were swamped with things to do. This allowed the workers to take turns with shifts and allowed some to be on break because there were still plenty of people out on the floor.

"Lucy, I'm so tired." Yukino flopped onto the table in the worker's lounge.

"Go to sleep earlier when you get home today." Lucy replied casually.

"Aren't you tired?"

Lucy shrugged and folded her arms. "You get used to it I guess."

"Aw, that isn't something you should be used to. You're always telling me to take care of myself but I don't see you following your own advice."

"I've tried. Unfortunately, I keep falling back into my old habits."

"Take a break every once in a while. Hey, why don't you go on vacation? That will surely take your mind off things."

"I can't afford to go on vacation." Lucy quickly dismissed the idea.

"Why not? What's the point of working so much if you're going to explode one of these days?"

Lucy laughed. "Geez, Yuki you're so overdramatic."

"I try." Yukino joined in, laughing with Lucy.

"Anyways, I can't take a vacation. I need to keep working for my sake and the kids. Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll finally agree to it."

"I hope that you'll agree to doing it too. You need to do something for yourself for a change. Stop worrying so much about pleasing Romeo and Wendy and focus on helping yourself."

"They're children." Lucy frowned.

"They're growing up. They're not little kids anymore, Lucy. Look at them, they are almost teenagers and they know how to take better care of themselves better than any other kids around their age thanks to you."

"Hmm… I think you might be right."

"Listen. If you want to take of them so badly then you need to realize that your health is also very important to them. They're kids but not clueless so they'll know that something is not right. Don't make them worry about you 'cause that will only make it worse."

"I'll try. I won't make any promises but I'll try."

"Good. You're way too young to worry about them so much. You're not even that much older than them, only a few years' difference. You're not even old enough to be their mom."

"Biologically it's impossible so yes that's true."

"So stop acting like one. I understand that you love them and want to protect them but act like the protective older sister instead of their mom. That's not your job. Live life, you're still young. You're beautiful and have so much going for you. Honestly, I want to see good ol' Lucy back from before we… you know."

"I know I'm not their mom and that I'm not even related to them but they've help me in so many ways. I am so much more responsible than I was before and I learned to take care of myself and others. You know that I didn't know how to do that before."

"We both ran away for a reason huh?" Yukino wistfully smiled. "But I want to make sure that you're making the right decisions here. We escaped to find happiness but I'm not sure you'll find that if you're working all the time."

"You work all the time too so what is the difference?"

"That's different. My dream has always been to own a restaurant and my passion is cooking. I work a lot but because that's what I love doing. But you on the other hand don't seem happy. You never were the type to just settle down without putting up much of a fight so I don't understand why you're giving up now."

"I haven't given up, there are just other things that are more important."

"I'm pretty sure your mother would beg to differ. She valued two things more than anything and besides your father I think you'd know that better than anyone else."

Lucy became sullen and smiled a sad smile. "Love and happiness."

"She was a wonderful person and you remind me of her. Another thing you had in common was your passions. When we were little you'd always talk about adventure. You wanted to explore to world and have amazing, once in a life time experiences. Hopefully you still feel that way because lately I haven't been able to tell whether or not you've changed both on the inside and outside."

"I think we've both changed a lot, don't you?"

"I feel like we've switched roles in this friendship. You're usually the one lecturing me but here I am reminding you that's okay for you to be yourself."

Lucy smiled. "You've matured. I'm proud of you."

"I hope so! I'm twenty-two and you're seventeen so I'm obligated to be the more mature one" Yukino said sarcastically.

"You're so old." Lucy teased.

"Twenty-two is not old!" Yukino shrieked, "I'm still a glowing young woman who was so much to live for."

"Oh yeah, you're totally living for that guy you like."

Yukino leaned in closer to her and lowered her voice. "We shall not speak of him while at work."

"But he's eye candy to you right?"

"N-no! He's so much more than that. He's a great guy, I promise."

"When are you going to introduce me to him?"

"Uhh… I don't know."

"You don't want me to meet him?"

"No, it's not that. I swear."

"Wait… don't tell me! You haven't had the courage to talk to him? Is that it?"

"Well…"

"Yukino!" Lucy raised her voice in disbelief.

"Ah, calm down!"

"But you've known him for months. I would have thought that you would have asked him out to dinner or something along those lines by now."

"I'm nervous. I back out at last minute whenever I want talk to him about it."

"Don't be so afraid. From what you've said, I think you might have a food chance with the guy."

"I think I'm just going to take things at my own pace. I'll tell you whenever I'm truly ready to ask him out."

"Don't make him wait too long." Lucy joked.

"Haha very funny. Now enough about my love life, what about yours?" A somewhat sinister smile appeared on Yukino's face.

"What about it?"

"You said there's a guy, huh? What's he like?"

"I literally know almost nothing about the guy so there's not much to tell."

"But I bet you guys had this instant connection. First time you've ever mentioned a guy to me in years without giving me any details."

"That's because I don't know any."

"Well you ought to know _something_."

"I know his name unless it was an alias."

"What's his name? I'll ask around to see if anyone knows the guy."

"Like hell I would tell you."

"Awh, come on Lucy. Don't be like that."

"You haven't told me your mystery guy's name. Also, I don't want you investigating him because that's a bit creepy."

"Creepy but you get all the information you need."

"I'd rather ask him upfront then find out through possible rumors."

"He could lie to you, you know."

Somehow, Lucy doubted that Natsu would do that to her. He didn't seem like the type of person to lie about who he was. Even if one day he fed her lies Lucy was pretty sure she would be able to tell that he was doing so.

"I'll take my chances."

"That's the spirit! Be a risk taker."

Lucy sat there and thought to herself: _You have no idea._ She may be close with Yukino ever since they were little kids but there were certain things that they kept hidden from her as well. Yukino was practically her older sister so as much as she knew it was unfair to hide the fact that she's involved in shady activity but it would spear her from constantly being in fear that something would go wrong.

Whenever certain situations arose where Yukino tried to help Lucy she would get some of her fellow guild members involved. Yukino decided that she wanted to be apart of a guild because it would be a wonderful opportunity to practice her magic.

It was ironic she was something that Lucy had a huge resentment towards. Sometimes it put Lucy on edge knowing that Yukino was a part of one of the more powerful guilds; Lumia Scale. She had to be extra careful when one of their members would drop by the restaurant because she couldn't risk getting recognized by any means.

Lucy did not know anyone from Lumia Scale which was a major disadvantage. Since she wasn't interested in getting too involved with the mage world she tried her best to avoid direct contact. Unfortunately, this meant that she did not know if the person walking right next to her in public is possibly a mage. It usually is awkward when she finds out someone she has met is a mage but Lucy has learned to deal with this issue over time.

Lucy looked up at the clock that hung over the door. "Our break is over. Time to get back to work."

"Right when it was getting to the good part too." Yukino sighed disappointedly and stood up.

"It is a sign that we should stop talking about it."

"I'll get you to tell me everything eventually, just you wait!" Yukino enthusiastically said to her.

Lucy gave her a sad smile. "Maybe one day."

Yukino opened the door and peeked out to see what was going on in the restaurant. To Lucy's surprise, Yukino started laughing to herself and continued to stare out the door.

"What is so funny?"

"There's a man that just walked in and he looks so weird." Yukino whispered to Lucy.

"How so?" Lucy got up and tried to peek through the small slit that the door allowed them to see through.

"He has pink hair."

Lucy's eyes widened and she covered her mouth so Yukino would not hear the gasp of surprise that she had made. _Natsu? What is he doing here?_ She continued to look at him as he walked across the restaurant and sat where one of the waiters directed him to sit. He was with another person that looked around the same age as Natsu and Lucy wondered if they were friends.

She had never seen him interact with anyone else before and was half curious to see what his interaction with his friend would be like. It was a stupid idea because there was no way she would be able to spy on them without being noticed and rejected the idea of gaining some information on him.

Yukino smirked and closed the door. "Lucy, you should totally go ask him if he dyed his hair or if it's naturally like that."

"No way." She denied almost instantly.

"Why not?"

She had to think of some excuse to avoid going out there and talking to him face to face. He would definitely recognize her voice given the opportunity to hear it when not in her cloak. Out of all chances the one person that does not have anything to lose if he revealed her identity happened to waltz into one of the few places she could not really hide.

"It's because it's rude." Lucy responded lamely.

"Oh don't give me that. You've definitely have heard much worse."

"I'm not going to be responsible for making a fool out of myself in front of a stranger."

"You're no fun." Yukino huffed and folded her arms.

"You are not respecting the costumers."

"It's just a simple question. It's not like it's going to hurt anyone."

"You never know. It could one the one thing he is super self-conscious about."

"Alright, alright I get it. I'll just go out there to serve him but as punishment you have to cook his food."

"Fair enough."

Yukino grabbed her note pad and pen off the table and headed out the door. Lucy took the opportunity to hide behind her and rush to the kitchen without being noticed by Natsu. She swiftly went to get her cooking apron and tied her hair up in a neat, golden bun.

Lucy looked at the clock in the kitchen expectantly. She was just counting down the minutes until she had to go to her other job because it would spear her from running into Natsu. She had this feeling that she needed to get out of there as soon as possible and there was no way that Lucy was going to deny her gut feeling even if that meant ruining any chances of getting to know the guy that peeked her interest.

* * *

Natsu walked into the restaurant a bit annoyed that ice princess hadn't let him pick where they were going to eat lunch. Even though he was angry that he did not let him go to the buffet across the street, Natsu calmed down as they enter the quaint restaurant.

"Table for two." Gray calmly told the waitress assigned to designate people to their tables.

"Ooh. Y'all on a date or somethin'?" The waitress asked curiously.

"No!" Gray and Natsu shouted simultaneously.

"Ah, what a shame." She waitress frowned and signaled for them to follow her.

The waitress eerily reminded the boys of their scary matchmaker friend, Mira. A shiver went down their spines as they released that they would never be free of the relentless and passionate fangirls. Their friend's simple pass time sometimes worried the two considering that many of the people they have met on the streets that also have a habit of "shipping" people are dangerous to be around.

As they sat down, Natsu could feel the stares of the other customers ogling his strangely colored hair. It was normal for him to receive looks wherever he went because he knew he stuck out like a sore thumb. Since it happened frequently, it did not bother him in the slightest anymore.

"Someone will be right with you to take your order." The waitress nodded and walked back to her position by the door.

As soon as the waitress was gone, Gray turned to Natsu looking quite upset. Gray was a genuinely calm and collected person who only would get riled up because of this equally as confusing counterpart, Natsu. When he was visually upset, Natsu knew that something that happened recently is the cause of it and he would take advantage of his friend's state to mess with him.

"Ugh, why the hell do people keep thinking we're a couple? We're not acting all lovey dovey so what's their problem?" He groaned and sunk into his chair.

"Maybe it's 'cause they think you're girly. I would too if I saw you walkin' 'round like that." Natsu laughed.

Gray clenched his fist into a ball and looked angrily at Natsu. "Shut your trap if you know what's good for you."

"Don't tell me to shut up. You shut up." Natsu copied Gray's pose of intimidation.

Gray rolled his eyes. "How original."

"More original than the garbage that comes out of your trap."

A voice randomly popped into the argument between the two boys. "Wow, you two sure are odd friends in deed."

Gray and Natsu looked towards the source of the sound. A waitress with short white hair had appeared with a questionable smirk on her face. She held her notepad in one hand and her pen in another, ready to take their order. Both boys scanned the menu and tried to decide on what they wanted to order.

Natsu placed the menu on the table and smiled at the waitress. "Everything on the menu."

The waitress's eyes widened and was not entirely sure if she had heard him correctly. "Wait… everything on the menu?"

"Yup, everythin'. Oh and instead of one grilled fish make it five."

"Are you sure you are going to be able to finish all of that? You ordered a ton of food. It's practically enough to feed ten people." The waitress questioned his order once again.

"You'd be surprised. He'll vacuum everything up and leave ya with nothing." Gray snorted.

"Alright." She smiled and wrote down the order. "What will you have for desert?"

Natsu looked through the menu and nothing seemed to interest him. All of the sweets there were something he had recently somewhere else or a desert he simply did not like. The waitress noticed him frown as he looked through the items on the menu dissatisfied.

She bent forward and whispered to the boys. "I'll let you guys have a strawberry cake for ordering so many things. Don't tell anyone else about it though because we aren't supposed to be selling them at this hour."

Gray and Natsu nodded, both satisfied about having a strawberry cake. It had been a while since either of them had had one because the bakery that was once the prime jewel of pastries had randomly shut down one day. It disappointed them because that was something they looked forward too after a long day of hard work as a reward for what they had done.

Even though it came as a shock to many people in Magnolia, the person who was most furious about it was by far Erza. The moment she found out that they had closed down, she sprinted to where the shop once stood and burst through the door trying to somehow salvage what was left behind by the previous owners.

"Alright then, I'll be back shortly." She nodded and headed towards the kitchen.

When the waitress walked away to get their food, Natsu decided the coast was clear. He took off the backpack he had been wearing and opened it up. A bright blue puff ball of energy jumped out of the bag and sat on the seat next to Natsu.

"Happy! Ya ready to eat?"

"Aye, aye!" Happy smiled adorably and rubbed his palms together.

"Still don't understand why didn't you just let Happy walk in with us." Gray tapped his fingers on the table impatiently.

"They might kick us out for havin' somethin' that doesn't look like us."

"It said on the door that pets are allowed, dumbass."

"HAPPY IS NOT A PET. HE—" Natsu was about to refute Gray's statement when the waitress came back with some of their food.

He immediately closed his mouth shut and patiently waited for all the food to be place on the table. Natsu, in general, was not a very patient person. It was always hard for him to stay quiet in any situation because he always had something to say, something to do or somewhere to be. Eating was one of those moments where he allowed himself to gain some self-control and is usually preoccupied with stuffing food in his mouth rather than worrying about other things.

When the waitress left, both Gray and Natsu indulged in the delicious food that they served there. The presentation and smell of the food gave clear indication that the meal was going to be excellent and boy were they not disappointed. After they impossibly downed the various foods they were given and Happy was satisfied with his five fish they called the waitress over and asked for the desert. Not much time had passed when the waitress came back with their order and again, they were impressed with what they served here.

Natsu looked at the desert in awe. It looked surprisingly delicious and he suddenly felt very grateful to Gray for dragging him to eat here. He took a bite and it was without a doubt one of the best things Natsu has ever had to eat.

He was about to take another bite when he smelled a familiar scent near him. It definitely was not Gray because even though Natsu jokes around with Gray about him acting girly which he had no problem with, it did not smell like him.

Granted, it was a bit weird that Natsu could pin point everyone's smell from far away however it was an asset of his that proved to be valuable in situations like these. Natsu shifted around his seat, trying to locate where the smell was coming from. He looked around and did not recognize any of the other patrons that were in the restaurant.

Natsu then looked down at his strawberry cake. He began inspecting it and people were giving him confused stares. Gray decided to ignore his actions because their was no point in arguing with him when he was caught up in something else. Natsu took a fork and poked the cake. As expected, nothing out of the ordinary happened or changed.

He decided to smell the cake. Natsu took a sniff of the desert in front of him and he finally recognized the smell that had been causing him to go crazy for the last two minutes. _Strawberries and cream_. The smell was Star's unforgettable scent. He dropped his fork and abruptly stood up.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Gray raised an eyebrow.

Without giving Gray a response, Natsu ran to the kitchen. He burst into the room and the chef that was in there jumped, startled by the costumer suddenly breaking into the kitchen. There was no sign of Star being in the room. He was afraid that he had imagined catching a whiff of her scent because that would mean that he was officially losing his mind because of this girl.

"Sir you're not supposed to be back here. It's for employees only." The chef sternly reminded Natsu.

Natsu ignored the chef. "Who made the cake I just ate?"

"We don't serve cakes for lunch. Now please leave the kitchen, sir."

"The strawberry cake thing! It... well look, can ya _please_ tell me who made it."

The chef frowned. "I can't do that."

"I just—"

"Natsu, you dumbass!" Gray burst into the kitchen and grabbed Natsu.

Without giving Natsu any rime to react, Gray pulled him out of the kitchen and dragged him back to the table they had been sitting at. He was furious at his friend for pulling a stunt like that and felt embarrassed that he had decided to bring him along in the first place.

"Are you stupid? What the hell were you thinking, flame brain? We're in a restaurant out in _public_. Be civil for Mavis's sake." Gray scowled at his friend.

"Just smelled somethin' that seemed familiar but I guess it wasn't." Natsu sighed in disappointment.

"You're going around sniffing people again? Keep yer nose to yourself."

Natsu rubbed the back of his neck. "Right…"

"What's up with you? You're acting weirder than usual and that's saying something because you're always all over the place."

"Imaginin' things." Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Not like I'm blind. Now tell me."

"I told ya that I'm fine already. Back off, Gray."

Gray wanted to help Natsu deal with whatever was going on in that head of his but Natsu was not going to make it any easier for him. It was out of the ordinary for Natsu to be as zoned out as he had been for the last two days because even though he was not the best listener he would always try his best to pay attention to whoever he was talking to.

He would pretend not to listen whenever he was having a small fight with Gray but they both knew that he wasn't going to ignore Gray if he had something important to say. That made it all the more reason for Gray to try and intervene on Natsu's early adulthood crisis. They might not seem like they would be good friends at all but those closer to them knew it was a healthy competition between the two of them.

Both equally the same and uniquely different in their own right and yet they still managed to make their odd friendship work. They had been through quite a whirlwind of problems together over the course of many years and they knew that they had each other's back whether they or not they refused to acknowledge it. They would fight over practically anything they had a different view or opinion on and there were moments were they decided it was best to swallow their pride for the sake of the other but this was definitely not one of those times.

Gray slumped back in his seat. "I was trying to nice. Guess you can't handle someone trying to make sure you don't run off and do anything stupid like what you did just now."

"That's it!" Natsu launched himself at Gray and began physically fighting with him.

A couple of employees ran over to the boys and forcibly pulled them apart from one another. Eventually, they were kicked out of the restaurant by one of the waiters and we're left to sulk outside to think about what they had done. Gray was furious that they were forced to leave in such an ungracious manner but Natsu had just been left wondering if Star had been standing in the kitchen not too long along baking his now new favorite food, strawberry cake.


End file.
